FRUE  AND  FALS 


TRUE  AND   FALSE   DEMOCRACY 


TRUE   AND   FALSE 
DEMOCRACY 


BY 

NICHOLAS   MURRAY  BUTLER 
PRESIDENT  OF  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
1907 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1907, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  clectrotyped.    Published  May,  1907. 


NorfoooB  $rr»a 

J.  8.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO  MY   FRIEND 

JOHN  MORLEY 

IN   GRATEFUL    RECOGNITION    OF   THE   VALUE 

OF    HIS    WRITINGS,    HIS   TEACHINGS 

AND    HIS    LIFE 


2052516 


IF  knowledge  is  power,  surely  there  are  times  Preface 
when  ignorance  seems  more  powerful  still.  No 
lessons  are  so  little  learned  as  those  of  past 
human  experience  in  politics.  In  each  succeed- 
ing generation  men  come  forward  who  are  rash 
or  foolish  enough  to  attempt  any  experiment,  no 
matter  how  discredited,  and  vain  enough  to  at- 
tack any  tradition  or  institution,  no  matter  how 
fully  justified  and  established.  They  foment  dis- 
turbing change  and  prevent  progress. 

The  name  democracy  is  old,  but  the  thing 
itself  is  quite  new.  Until  the  rise  of  public 
opinion,  democracy  in  the  modern  sense  was  not 
possible.  Nevertheless,  human  nature  has  been 
pretty  much  the  same  since  history  began,  and 
human  strength  and  human  weakness  have  been 
exhibited  and  tested  in  almost  every  possible 
way.  The  world  may  know,  if  it  cares  to,  how 
human  beings  will  act  under  certain  circum- 
[vii] 


Preface  stances  and  conditions.  Yet  we  are  constantly 
asked  to  forget  or  overlook  the  teachings  of  all 
this  experience,  and  to  act  politically  as  if  the 
past  political  actions  of  human  beings  had  left 
no  mark. 

The  modern  newspaper  has  greatly  extended 
the  rule  of  the  formula  or  the  phrase.  The 
head-line  of  to-day  is  the  rallying-cry  of  to-mor- 
row. A  motto  is  substituted  for  a  principle. 
The  words  democracy,  democratic,  undemocratic, 
are  constantly  used  in  this  way  for  purposes  that 
are  either  bad  or  misleading.  The  appeal  is  to 
the  mob,  not  to  the  people. 

It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  same  indi- 
viduals constitute  both  the  mob  and  the  people. 
When  their  lower  nature  rules,  these  individuals 
are  a  mob ;  when  their  higher  nature  guides,  they 
are  the  people.  The  demagogue  makes  his  ap- 
peal to  the  mob ;  the  political  leader,  the  states- 
man, makes  his  appeal  to  the  people. 

The  perfect  state  of  Plato,  in  which  all  rulers 

shall  be  philosophers,  will  be  at  hand  when  every 

member  of  a   self-governing  community  has   a 

clear  understanding   of    what  democracy   really 

[viii] 


means  and  implies,  as  well  as  a  character  strong  Preface 
enough  to  fix  his  own  relations  to  his  fellows  in 
accordance  with  moral  principle. 

If  the  papers  contained  in  this  little  volume 
contribute  in  any  way  to  this  end,  they  will  have 
served  their  purpose. 

It  is  futile  to  expect  a  regeneration  of  man  by 
act  of  legislature  or  through  a  redistribution  of 
the  world's  goods.  Socialism  would  wreck  the 
world's  efficiency  for  the  purpose  of  redistributing 
the  world's  discontent.  The  moral  education  of 
the  individual  human  being  to  the  point  where  he 
realizes  the  squalid  poverty  of  selfishness  and 
the  boundless  riches  of  service,  will  alone  lift 
civilization  to  a  higher  plane  and  make  true 
democracy  secure. 

COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 
May  4,  1907 


[ix] 


I  Contents 

PAGE 

TRUE  AND  FALSE  DEMOCRACY         ...         1 

Problems  of  to-day  chiefly  economic  and 
social  —  What  is  democracy  ?  —  Equality  versus 
liberty  —  Has  liberty  lost  its  charm?  —  The 
socialist  propaganda  —  Need  of  a  real  aristoc- 
racy—  True  versus  false  democracy  —  The 
real  representative  —  Is  democracy  a  failure  ? 
Political  and  economic  exploitation  —  A  defi- 
nition of  public  property  needed  —  The  mob 
versus  the  people  —  The  problem  of  wealth  — 
Effective  expression  of  public  opinion  —  Our 
three  political  agencies  —  Legislative  usurpa- 
tion —  The  Executive  as  representative  of  the 
people  —  Confusion  of  government  and  ad- 
ministration —  Evils  of  false  democracy  — 
Ideals  of  true  democracy. 

II 

EDUCATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION      ...       41 

Place  of  public  opinion  in  a  democracy  — 
Public  opinion  a  new  creation  —  Passing  of 
class  distinctions  —  Complex  relationships  of 
[xi] 


Contents  the  individual  —  The  bad  citizen  —  The  indi-     PAGE 

vidual  and  the  mass  —  Part  played  by  uncon- 
scious imitation  —  Uneven  progress  of  public 
opinion  —  The  elite  in  a  democracy  —  Rela- 
tion of  the  individual  to  public  opinion  —  The 
party  system  —  Action  independent  of  party 
—  The  leader  and  the  boss  —  Value  of  party 
organization  —  Business  in  politics  —  Indi- 
vidual responsibility  for  public  policy. 

Ill 

DEMOCRACY  AND  EDUCATION  ....       77 

Quo  vadis?  —  The  new  era  —  Spread  of 
democracy  —  Equality  and  liberty  —  Educa- 
tion and  politics  —  The  individual  and  the 
state  —  Education  in  a  democracy  —  The  good 
citizen  —  Bad  effect  of  the  spoils  system  — 
Imperfections  of  democracy  —  Triumphant 
democracy. 


[xii] 


TRUE   AND   FALSE  DEMOCRACY 


AN  ADDRESS 
DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  ON  CHARTER  DAY 
MARCH  23,  1907 


TRUE  AND  FALSE  DEMOCRACY 

THE   idols  of  the  market-place,  those  words    True  and 
and    phrases    which    pass    current    among    men    False 
carelessly  and   without  testing,   are   even   more  ra  ^ 

devotedly  worshipped  to-day  than  they  were  when 
Bacon  first  described  them.  We  speak  lightly 
and  in  familiar  terms  of  the  words  which  stand 
for  the  greatest  achievements  of  man,  and  too 
seldom  do  we  stop  to  ask  ourselves  whether  we 
truly  grasp  and  understand  their  significance. 
The  word  democracy  is  one  of  these.  The 
theme  which  it  suggests  is  a  fascinating  one, 
and  it  is  worth  while  to  point  out  some  far- 
reaching  distinctions  between  a  democracy  which 
is  true  and  stable,  and  one  which  is  false  and 
illusory. 

In  each  of  the  progressive  nations  of  the  earth  Problems  of 
it  is  clearly  recognized  that  the  pressing  questions  *°~no 
of  the  moment  are  not  so  much  political,  in  the  anA  social 
narrow  sense,  as  they  are  economic  and  social. 
[3] 


True  and     Human  welfare,  for  which  in  a  vague  and  general 
False  way  governments  were  built,  has  now  become 

Democracy  jn  a  precise  and  specific  way  a  main  object  of 
government  everywhere.  The  upbuilding  of 
character  and  intelligence  by  providing  oppor- 
tunity and  instruction;  the  securing  of  comfort 
and  prosperity  through  justice  as  well  as  by  philan- 
thropy; the  protection  of  the  individual  from 
disease  as  well  as  from  attack,  are  all  tasks  of 
common  concern  wrought  at  by  a  collective  agency. 
Only  a  beginning  has  been  made  in  the  establish- 
ment of  this  new  order  of  political  thought  and 
political  action.  In  Germany,  in  France,  in 
England,  in  Italy,  in  Japan,  as  well  as  in 
America,  parliaments  and  legislatures  are  busy- 
ing themselves  with  these  newer  problems,  the 
common  characteristic  of  which  is  that  they  appear 
to  involve  in  their  solution  a  vast  and  rapid  ex- 
tension of  the  field  in  which  men  work  collectively 
through  their  political  agents,  rather  than  individ- 
ually through  their  own  wills  and  hands.  Those 
who  are  alarmed  at  this  tendency  and  who  see 
in  it  a  force  and  movement  antagonistic  to  ideals 
and  principles  in  which  they  whole-heartedly 
[4] 


believe,  name  it  socialism  and  call  upon  us  to    True  and 
make  war  upon  it  as  such.     But,  as  Lord  Salis-  False 
bury  told  the  listening  peers  years  ago,  the  tune   Democracy 
has   gone    by  when  to   call    a   measure   social- 
istic is  a  sufficient  reason  for  opposing  it.     The 
new    proposals    must    be    examined    on    their 
merits,  and   no  argument  by  epithet  should   be 
allowed  to  blind   us  to  the  truth,  wherever  it 
may  be. 

We  Americans  approach  these  present-day 
problems  in  the  spirit  of  democracy,  and  with 
more  than  a  century  of  schooling  in  democracy 
behind  us;  but  are  we  quite  sure  that  we  know 
what  democracy  means  and  implies  ?  Have  we 
so  fast  a  hold  upon  principle  that  not  even  the 
allurements  of  greed  and  envy  or  the  promptings 
of  angry  passion  will  sweep  us  from  our  moor- 
ings ?  For  there  is  a  democracy  false  and  a 
democracy  true,  and  it  is  just  when  the  economic 
or  social  problem  presses  hardest  for  solution 
that  the  sharp  contrast  between  the  two  is  lost 
sight  of  and  the  line  which  divides  them  is  blurred. 
To  consider  the  true  and  the  false  conceptions 
of  democracy  is  to  equip  ourselves  with  the  armor 
[5] 


True  and      of  sound  and  well-tested   principle   to  meet  the 

False  tasks  and  problems  of  to-morrow. 

Democracy  Was  Lord  Byron  right  when  he  cried,  "What 
is  democracy  ?  —  an  aristocracy  of  blackguards  ! " 
or  was  the  truth  not  with  Mazzini,  who  defined 
democracy  as  "the  progress  of  all  through  all, 
under  the  leadership  of  the  best  and  wisest "  ? 
Everything  depends  upon  the  answer.  Perhaps 
we  shall  reach  the  answer  most  safely  and  securely 
if  we  examine  some  significant  facts  in  recent 
political  history. 

What  is  Not  long  ago,  within  the  walls  of  the  Palais 

Bourbon,  a  building  which  bears  the  name 
that  has  passed  into  literature  as  the  symbol  of 
political  reaction  and  obscurantism,  two  great 
orators  and  statesmen  presented  to  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies,  in  memorable  controversy,  two  con- 
flicting political  and  social  programmes  and  ideals. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  debate  between 
M.  Jaures  and  M.  Clemenceau  in  June,  1906, 
on  the  underlying  relations  between  the  socialistic 
programme  and  the  principles  of  a  democratic 
state,  was  one  of  the  most  significant  and  prophetic 
to  which  the  world  has  listened  for  many  years. 
[6] 


Jaures  presented  with  lucid  fervor  the  ideal  of  True  and 
that  socialistic  democracy  which  binds  itself  False 
to  the  shibboleth  of  equality.  Clemenceau  pre-  Denwcracy 
sented  with  forceful  acumen  the  conception  of 
an  individualist  democracy  which  takes  liberty 
for  its  watchword.  Neither  protagonist  indi- 
cated by  his  words  that  he  saw  or  felt  the  necessary 
and  everlasting  contradiction  between  economic 
equality  and  liberty.  The  formula  in  which 
these  two  terms  stand  side  by  side  is  so  dear  to 
the  Frenchman  who  looks  back  to  the  Revolution 
as  the  date  of  his  emancipation,  that  perhaps  it 
will  be  given  to  others  than  Frenchmen  to  see 
most  clearly  how  complete  is  the  contradiction 
between  liberty  and  economic  equality,  and 
that  escape  from  the  contradiction  is  only  to  be 
found  in  the  true  conception  of  the  third  term 
of  the  revolutionary  formula,  fraternity. 

Lord  Acton,  scholar  and  wise  man  of  the  world, 
whose  hope  was  to  live  long  enough  to  write  the 
history  of  liberty  in  Europe,  once  said  that  "The 
deepest  cause  which  made  the  French  Revolution 
so  disastrous  to  liberty  was  its  theory  of  equality. 
Liberty  was  the  watchword  of  the  middle  class, 
[7] 


True  and      equality  of  the  lower.     It  was  the  lower  class  that 
False  Won  the  battles  of  the  third  estate ;  that  took  the 

Democracy  jjastine)  an(j  made  France  a  constitutional  mon- 
archy ;  that  took  the  Tuileries,  and  made  France 
a  Republic.  They  claimed  their  reward.  The 
middle  class,  having  cast  down  the  upper  orders 
with  the  aid  of  the  lower,  instituted  a  new  in- 
equality and  a  privilege  for  itself .  By  means  of  a 
taxpaying  qualification  it  deprived  its  confederates 
of  their  vote.  To  those,  therefore,  who  had  ac- 
complished the  Revolution,  its  promise  was  not 
fulfilled.  Equality  did  nothing  for  them.  The 
opinion,  at  that  time,  was  almost  universal,  that 
society  is  founded  on  an  agreement  which  is 
voluntary  and  conditional,  and  that  the  links 
which  bind  men  to  it  are  terminable,  for  sufficient 
reason,  like  those  which  subject  them  to  authority. 
From  these  popular  premises  the  logic  of  Marat 
drew  his  sanguinary  conclusions.  He  told  the 
famished  people  that  the  conditions  on  which  they 
had  consented  to  bear  their  evil  lot,  and  had  re- 
frained from  violence,  had  not  been  kept  to  them. 
It  was  suicide,  it  was  murder,  to  submit  to  starve, 
and  to  see  one's  children  starving,  by  the  fault  of 
[8] 


the  rich.     The  bonds  of  society  were  dissolved    True  and 
by  the  wrong  it  inflicted.     The  state  of  nature  False 
had  come  back,  in  which  every  man  had  a  right 
to  what  he  could  take.     The  time  had  come  for 
the  rich  to  make  way  for  the  poor.     With  this 
theory  of  equality,  liberty  was  quenched  in  blood, 
and   Frenchmen   became   ready  to   sacrifice   all 
other  things  to  save  life  and  fortune."  1 

The  political  and  social  anarchy  which  Lord  Equality 
Acton  describes  must  be  the  inevitable  result 
whenever  the  passion  for  economic  equality  over- 
comes the  love  of  liberty  in  men's  breasts.  For 
the  state  is  founded  upon  justice,  and  justice  in- 
volves liberty,  and  liberty  denies  economic  equal- 
ity; because  equality  of  ability,  of  efficiency,  and 
even  of  physical  force  are  unknown  among  men. 
To  secure  an  equality  which  is  other  than  the 
political  equality  incident  to  liberty,  the  more 
efficient  must  be  shackled  that  they  may  not  out- 
run the  less  efficient,  for  there  is  no  known  device 
by  which  the  less  efficient  can  be  spurred  on  to 
equal  the  accomplishment  of  the  more  efficient. 
Objective  conditions  must,  of  course,  be  equalized, 
1  Quarterly  Review,  January,  1878,  pp.  133-134. 
[9] 


True  and      particularly  those  conditions  which  are  created  by 
False  the  state.     But  this  is  true  not  because  such  an 

Democracy    equajity  is  an  end  in  itself,  but  because  it  is  essen- 
tial to  liberty. 

If  we  can  fix  clearly  in  mind  this  fundamental 
contradiction  between  equality  of  possessions, 
equality  of  capacity,  equality  of  attainment,  and 
liberty,  we  shall  have  reached  the  clew  to  the 
distinction  between  a  democracy  which  is  false 
and  spurious,  and  a  democracy  which  is  true  and 
real. 

When  one  examines  the  proposals  that  are 
seriously  made  by  responsible  men  in  high  place, 
not  in  one  nation  of  the  earth  but  in  many,  he  is 
forced  to  ask  whethe~  liberty,  which  for  four 
centuries  has  been  a  word  to  conjure  with,  has 
lost  its  hold  upon  men,  and  whether  we  are  com- 
ing to  a  pass  where  democracy  is  to  be  reduced 
to  the  expedient  of  some  of  the  ancient  tyrannies, 
and  is  to  be  able  to  maintain  itself  only  by  pro- 
viding bread  and  a  circus  for  the  masses  of  the 
people.  If  by  any  chance  we  have  come  to  this 
pass,  or  are  coming  to  it,  then  be  assured  that  it 
will  not  be  long  before  a  great  change  will  come 
[10] 


over  the  political  and  social  institutions  of  man-    True  and 
kind,  and  that  it  will  be  a  change  for  the  worse.       False 

It  is  hard  to  bring  one's  self  to  believe  that  Democracy 
liberty  has  lost  its  hold,  or  that  a  false  and  spurious 
equality  contradicting  every  natural  law,  making 
progress  impossible  or  only  temporary  at  best, 
can  long  lure  intelligent  men  from  liberty's  path. 
The  abuses  of  liberty  are  severe  and  innumerable. 
The  economic  injustices  that  have  not  yet  been 
removed  are  many  and  apparent.  The  forms  of 
equality  dependent  upon  true  liberty  that  have 
not  yet  been  sufficiently  established  are  easy  to 
name.  But  surely  the  remedy  is  not  to  be  found 
in  tearing  down  the  corner-stone  of  the  political 
fabric,  but  rather  in  first  clearing  away  obstruc- 
tions and  debris,  and  then  in  building  more 
thoughtfully,  more  wisely,  and  more  patiently 
upon  it. 

The  socialist  propaganda,  never  more  seriously  The  Socialist 

.  L    Propaganda 

or  more  ably  carried  on  than  now,  is  an  earnest 

and  sincere  attempt  to  escape  from  conditions 
that  are  burdensome  and  unhappy.  Despite  its 
most  imperfect  interpretation  of  the  economic 
significance  of  history  and  its  ringing  the  changes 
[11] 


True  and      on  a  misleading  theory  of  class  consciousness,  this 
False  propaganda  makes  an  appeal  to  our  favorable 

Democracy  judgment  because  its  proclaimed  motive  is  to  help 
the  mass  of  mankind.  No  just  man  can  quarrel 
with  its  aim,  but  few  readers  of  history  or  students 
of  human  nature  can  approve  its  programme. 
What  is  it  that  socialism  aims  to  accomplish  by 
restricting  liberty  in  order  to  promote  economic 
equality?  It  seeks  to  accomplish  what  it  con- 
ceives to  be  a  juster  economic  and  political  con- 
dition. At  bottom  and  without  special  reference 
to  immediate  concrete  proposals,  socialism  would 
substitute  for  individual  initiative  collective  and 
corporate  responsibility  in  matters  relating  to 
property  and  production,  in  the  hope  thereby  of 
correcting  and  overcoming  the  evils  which  attach 
to  an  individualism  run  wild.  But  we  must  not 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  corporate  or  collec- 
tive responsibility  which  it  would  substitute  for 
individual  initiative  is  only  such  corporate  or  col- 
lective responsibility  as  a  group  of  these  very  same 
individuals  could  exercise.  Therefore,  socialism 
is  primarily  an  attempt  to  overcome  man's  indi- 
vidual imperfections  by  adding  them  together,  in 
[12] 


the  hope  that  they  will  cancel  each  other.     This    True  and 

is  not  only  bad  mathematics,  but  worse  psychology.  False 

In  pursuing  a  formula,  socialism  fails  to  take  Democracy 

account  of  the  facts.     Out  of  the  people  it  would 

constitute  a  mob,  in  forgetfulness  of  the  fact  that 

the  mob,  led  or  unled,  is  the  most  serious  foe  that 

the  people  have  ever  had  to  face.     The  Roman 

Republic  conquered   every  enemy  but  its   own 

vices.     With  this  warning  written  large  across  the 

page  of  history,  what  is  the  lesson  of  Rome  for 

America  ? 

We  come  back  to  the  conception  which  Mazzini 
had  of  democracy :  "  The  progress  of  all  through 
all,  under  the  leadership  of  the  best  and  wisest." 
True  democracy  will  carry  on  an  insistent  search 
for  these  wisest  and  best,  and  will  elevate  them  to 
posts  of  leadership  and  command.  Under  the 
operation  of  the  law  of  liberty,  it  will  provide  itself 
with  real  leaders,  not  limited  by  rank,  or  birth, 
or  wealth,  or  circumstance,  but  opening  the  way 
for  each  individual  to  rise  to  the  place  of  honor 
and  influence  by  the  expression  of  his  own  best 
and  highest  self.  It  will  exactly  reverse  the  com- 
munistic formula,  "From  each  according  to  his 
[13] 


True  and      abilities,  To  each  according  to  his  needs,"  and 
False  wiH  uphold  the  principle,  "From  each  according 

Democracy  ^Q  jjjs  nee(js>  To  each  according  to  his  abilities." 
It  will  take  care  to  provide  such  a  ladder  of  edu- 
cation and  opportunity  that  the  humblest  may  rise 
to  the  very  top  if  he  is  capable  and  worthy.  The 
most  precious  thing  in  the  world  is  the  individual 
human  mind  and  soul,  with  its  capacity  for  growth 
and  service.  To  bind  it  fast  to  a  formula,  to  hold 
it  in  check  to  serve  the  selfish  ends  of  mediocrity, 
to  deny  it  utterance  and  expression,  political, 
economic,  and  moral,  is  to  make  democracy  im- 
possible as  a  permanent  social  and  governmental 
form. 

Need  of  The  United  States  is  in  sore  need  to-day  of  an 

tocracy  "  aristocracy  of  intellect  and  service.  Because  such 
an  aristocracy  does  not  exist  in  the  popular  con- 
sciousness, we  are  bending  the  knee  in  worship 
to  the  golden  calf  of  money.  The  form  of  mon- 
archy and  its  pomp  offer  a  valuable  foil  to  the  wor- 
ship of  money  for  its  own  sake.  A  democracy 
must  provide  itself  with  a  foil  of  its  own,  and  none 
is  better  or  more  effective  than  an  aristocracy  of 
intellect  and  service  recruited  from  every  part  of 
[14] 


our  democratic  life.     We  must  put  behind  us  the   True  and 
fundamental  fallacy  that  equality  is  demanded  by  False 
justice.     The  contrary  is  the  case.     Justice  de-  Democracy 
mands  inequality  as  a  condition  of  liberty  and  as  a 
means  of  rewarding  each  according  to  his  merits 
and  deserts.     Even  the  Socialist  admits  this,  for 
Menger  has  written  that  "  the  wealth  destined  for 
the  immediate  satisfaction  of  desires  may,  even 
in  the  socialist  state,  be  divided  unequally,  accord- 
ing to  the  quality  and  quantity  of  work  performed, 
the  rank  occupied  by  each  in  the  state,  and  many 
other  factors." 

Jealousy  of  power  honestly  gained  and  justly 
exercised,  envy  of  attainment  or  of  possession,  are 
characteristics  of  the  mob,  not  of  the  people;  of 

a  democracy  which  is  false,  not  of  a  democracy 

i  •  i     •  -nil  -n  True  versus 

which  is  true.     False  democracy  shouts,  Every  fa]se 

man  down  to  the  level  of  the  average.     True  democracy 

democracy  cries,  All  men  up  to  the  height  of  their 

fullest  capacity  for  service  and  achievement.     The 

two  ideals  are  everlastingly  at  war.     The  future 

of  this  nation,  as  the  future  of  the  world,  is  bound 

up  with  the  hope  of  a  true  democracy  that  builds 

itself  on  liberty. 

[15] 


True  and         True  democracy  rejects  the  doctrine  that  medi- 
False  ocrity  is  a  safeguard  for  liberty,  and  points  to  the 

Democracy  fac|.  ^at  the  only  serious  menace  to  liberty  comes 
from  the  predominance  of  monopoly,  of  privilege, 
and  of  majorities.  True  democracy  holds  fast  to  the 
notion  that  fixed  standards  of  right  and  wrong  are 
necessary  to  its  success,  and  that  no  resting-place 
is  to  be  found  in  the  verdict  of  authorities,  of 
majorities,  or  of  custom.  It  believes  that  nothing 
is  settled  until  it  is  settled  right,  and  that  no  fear 
of  majorities  and  no  threats  of  the  powerful  should 
for  an  instant  be  allowed  to  check  the  agitation 
to  right  a  wrong  or  to  remedy  an  abuse.  True 
democracy  sings,  with  Lowell,  its  own  true  poet :  — 

"  Then  to  side  with  Truth  is  noble  when  we  share  her 
wretched  crust, 

Ere  her  cause  bring  fame  and  profit,  and  't  is  pros- 
perous to  be  just; 

Then  it  is  the  brave  man  chooses,  while  the  coward 
stands  aside, 

Doubting  in  his  abject  spirit,  till  his  Lord  is  crucified, 

And  the  multitude  make  virtue  of  the  faith  they  had 
denied." 

True  democracy  creates  leadership  by  its  con- 
[16] 


fidence  and  trust,  and  follows  it.     False  democ-    True  and 
racy  decries  leaders  and  exalts  demagogues.  False 

A  real  representative  of  the  people  is  not  their  Democracy 
unreflecting  mouthpiece  or  their  truckling  servant, 
altering  his  course  to  meet  each  shifting  breeze 
of  opinion  or  puff  of  passion.     He  is  rather  the 
spokesman  for  their  conscience,  their  insight,  and 
their  judgment  as  his  own  deepest  and  sincerest 
convictions  reveal  them  to  him.     Edmund  Burke, 
speaking  to  the  electors  of  Bristol,  expressed  per- 
fectly the  real  duty  of  a  representative  to  his  The  real 
constituency.     He  said:-  representative 

"It  ought  to  be  the  happiness  and  glory  of  a 
representative  to  live  in  the  strictest  union,  the 
closest  correspondence,  and  the  most  unreserved 
communication  with  his  constituents.  Their 
wishes  ought  to  have  great  weight  with  him ;  their 
opinions  high  respect;  their  business  unremitted 
attention.  .  .  .  But  his  unbiassed  opinion,  his 
mature  judgment,  his  enlightened  conscience,  he 
ought  not  to  sacrifice  to  you,  to  any  man,  or  to 
any  set  of  men  living.  These  he  does  not  derive 
from  your  pleasure  —  no,  nor  from  the  law  and  the 
constitution.  They  are  a  trust  from  Providence, 
[171 


True  and      for  the  abuse  of  which  he  is  deeply  answerable. 
False  Your  representative  owes  you  not  his  industry 

Democracy  oniv>  but  his  judgment ;  and  he  betrays,  instead  of 
serving  you,  if  he  sacrifices  it  to  your  opinion.  .  .  . 
Parliament  is  not  a  congress  of  ambassadors  from 
different  and  hostile  interests,  which  interests  each 
must  maintain,  as  an  agent  and  advocate,  against 
other  agents  and  advocates ;  but  Parliament  is  a 
deliberative  assembly  of  one  nation,  with  one 
interest,  that  of  the  whole  —  where  not  local  pur- 
poses, not  local  prejudices,  ought  to  guide,  but 
the  general  good,  resulting  from  the  general 
reason  of  the  whole.  You  choose  a  member,  in- 
deed ;  but  when  he  is  chosen,  he  is  not  a  member 
of  Bristol,  but  a  member  of  Parliament." 

What  Burke  says  of  Parliament  is  equally  true 
of  the  American  Congress  and  of  American  State 
Legislatures.  Their  one  proper  concern  is  the 
interest  of  the  whole  body  politic,  and  the  true 
democratic  representative  is  not  the  cringing, 
fawning  tool  of  the  caucus  or  of  the  mob,  but  he 
who,  rising  to  the  full  stature  of  political  manhood, 
does  not  take  orders  but  offers  guidance.  We 
Americans  well  know  that  genuine  leadership  is 
[18] 


possible  in  a  democratic  state,  and  that  an  aris-   True  and 
tocracy  of  intelligence  and  service  may  be  built  False 
up  in  a  democracy;  for  the  immortal  example  is  Democracy 
found  in  the  life  and  work  and  glory  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

If,  however,  the  matter  were  to  be  left  here, 
some  perplexing  questions  would  remain  un- 
answered. For  one  hundred  years  and  more  the 
people  of  the  United  States  have  maintained  a 
democratic  form  of  government,  which  has  grown 
from  small  and  simple  beginnings  to  a  complicated  is  democracy 
organism  ruling  a  territory  comparable  to  that  of 
the  world's  greatest  empires.  Yet  happiness  and 
prosperity  have  not  become  universal,  nor  is 
justice  yet  established  invariably  as  between 
man  and  man,  or  as  between  the  individual 
and  the  community.  For  this  there  are  two 
reasons. 

The  first  is  to  be  found  in  human  nature  itself, 
with  its  limitations,  its  imperfections,  its  seemingly 
slow  progress  toward  the  highest  ethical  standards 
and  the  surest  spiritual  insights.  For  the  removal 
of  these  obstacles  there  is  no  hope  in  man-made 
[19] 


True  and      formulas  or  in  governmental  policies ;    education 

False  and    moral    regeneration,    taking    long    periods 

Democracy    of  tjme  to  accomplish  their  aims,  are  the  only 

instrumentalities    to    which    we    can    hopefully 

turn. 

The  second  reason,  however,  lies  somewhat 
closer  at  hand.  It  is  to  be  found,  I  conceive,  in 
the  lack  of  adjustment  between  the  responsibility 
and  oversight  of  the  community,  acting  through 
its  governmental  agents,  and  the  exercise  of  indi- 
vidual initiative  in  matters  relating  to  property 
and  production.  This  lack  of  adjustment  is 
traceable  in  turn  to  the  rapid  changes  which  the 
past  generation  or  two  have  brought  about  in  our 
economic  and  industrial  life.  To  keep  pace  with 
these  changes,  and  to  secure  justice  without  sacri- 
ficing liberty,  is  now  the  purpose  and  the  hope  of 
true  democracy  everywhere. 

Political  and        What  chiefly  attracts  attention  at  the  moment 

exploitation      as  an  element  °f  serious  injustice,  is  the  institution, 

under  the  guise  of  liberty  or  freedom,  of  what  is 

really  a  form  of  economic  dependence  or  slavery, 

which  is  usually  described  as  the  exploitation  of 

man  by  man.     If  this  exploitation,  or  use  and 

[20] 


oppression  of  one  man  by  another,  were  shown  to  True  and 
be  a  necessary  and  inevitable  result  of  society  as  False 
now  ordered  and  established,  then  might  we  well  Democracy 
believe  that  the  socialist  propaganda,  if  it  could 
make  clear  that  socialism  would  bring  such  ex- 
ploitation to  an  end,  would  go  forward  with  in- 
creasing energy  and  success.  But  it  must  be 
pointed  out  that  the  exploitation  of  one  individual 
by  another  is  not  a  necessary,  but  an  incidental, 
consequence  of  the  existing  social  order,  and  that, 
bad  as  it  is,  its  results  are  in  no  sense  comparable 
with  the  evils  of  the  exploitation  of  one  by  all, 
which  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  establish- 
ment of  a  socialistic  democracy.  For  the  exploi- 
tation of  one  by  all  puts  an  end  to  liberty.  We 
should  not  gain  anything  by  substituting  the  more 
injurious  form  of  exploitation  for  the  less  injurious ; 
we  should,  rather,  lose  much.  The  real  problem 
of  democracy  is  to  prevent  both  forms  of  exploita- 
tion, either  that  of  one  man  by  another  or  that  of 
one  man  by  the  community.  To  prevent  this 
exploitation,  or  rather  to  reduce  it  to  the  narrow 
and  necessary  limits  set  by  nature  itself,  and  to 
take  away  from  it  all  causes  added  by  the  grant  of 


True  and      monopoly  and  privilege,  are  clear  duties  of  present- 
False  day  democracy.     How  shall  democracy  proceed 

Democracy   tothistask? 

If  the  exaggerated  forms  of  exploitation  which 
are  now  observed  among  us  are  studied  with  care, 
it  will  be  seen  that,  almost  without  exception,  they 
spring  from  community-given  monopoly  or  privi- 
lege. They  do  not  spring  from  the  relation  be- 
tween individual  and  individual,  or  from  the  in- 
stitution of  private  property  itself.  They  spring 
from  the  relation  between  individual  and  com- 
munity. Those  relations  would  be  multiplied,  not 
diminished,  in  a  socialistic  democracy.  The  only 
hope  for  the  abolition  of  exploitation  in  a  socialistic 
democracy,  therefore,  is  the  regeneration  of  man 
and  the  removal  of  those  natural  obstacles  to 
human  perfection  which  are  so  plainly  in  evi- 
dence. In  other  words,  the  socialistic  democ- 
racy assumes,  and  must  assume  for  the  success 
of  its  programme,  a  condition  of  individual 
perfection  which  the  whole  of  history  denies. 
The  lack  of  this  individual  perfection  gives  rise 
to  the  evils  of  the  present  hour,  and  it  would  con- 
tinue to  give  rise  to  the  same  evils,  but  in  an 
[22] 


exaggerated  form,  if  the  socialistic  democracy  were    True  and 
to  be  established.  False 

If  what  is  properly  called  exploitation  is  to  be  Democracy 
prevented,  this  can  only  be  accomplished,  I  con- 
ceive, by  developing  with  clearness  and  precision  A  definition 
a  concept  of  public  property  which  shall  have  an  of  public 
ethical  foundation  and  a  legal  as  well  as  a  social  needed 
sanction.  The  ethical  foundation  for  the  concept 
of  private  property,  and  the  legal  and  social  sanc- 
tions for  it,  are  perfectly  clear  and  well  known. 
The  concept  of  public  property  is  not  in  so  for- 
tunate a  condition.  It  needs  elaboration  and 
definition.  If  we  can  arrive  at  this  elaboration 
and  definition  of  the  concept  of  public  property, 
then  we  may  safely  assign  control  of  public  prop- 
erty to  the  government  and  exclude  the  individual 
from  any  share  in  that  control.  On  the  border- 
land between  public  and  private  property  there 
will  be  found  many  instances  of  doubtful  classifi- 
cation. Expediency  and  experience  will  indicate 
on  which  side  of  the  line  a  given  case  should  fall. 
But  there  may  wisely  be  established  an  interme- 
diate class  of  undertakings,  not  to  be  regarded  as 
wholly  private  and  not  to  be  regarded  as  wholly 
[23] 


True  and      public,  in  respect  to  which   individual  initiative 
False  shall  prevail  under  such  terms  as  the  state  regu- 

Democracy  iatjon  and  oversight  may  prescribe.  Along  these 
lines  and  on  this  basis  a  true  democracy  can  bring 
so-called  exploitation  to  an  end  without  endeavor- 
ing to  establish  a  false  equality,  and  holding  fast 
meanwhile  to  true  liberty.  This  is  a  practicable 
and  a  practical  programme  to  be  set  over  against 
the  impracticable  and  unpractical  programme 
offered  by  the  socialist  propaganda. 

In  working  out  this  prgramme  we  must  take 
care  to  protect  ourselves  against  the  mob  —  a 
mass  of  men  whose  powers  of  reflection  and  judg- 
ment are  unhorsed  and  who  are  driven  by  the 
force  of  blind  passion;  for  any  social  or  political 
reconstruction  whets  the  mob's  appetite  and  stirs 
its  passions. 

In  his  extraordinary  characterization  of  the  con- 
ditions preceding  and  accompanying  the  French 
Revolution,  Taine  pictured  with  skilful  verisimili- 
tude the  characteristics  of  the  mob  which  parades 
in  the  garb  of  democracy.  He  spoke  of  its  mis- 
trust of  its  natural  leaders,  of  the  great,  of  the 
wealthy,  of  persons  in  office  and  clothed  with 
[24] 


authority,  as  being  inveterate  and  incurable.  He  True  and 
described  the  sovereignty  of  unrestrained  passions,  False 
which  is  the  final  and  bloody  end  of  mob  rule.  Democracy 
There  are  those  among  us  who  understand  the 
mob  so  well  that  they  sedulously  and  skilfully 
endeavor  to  bring  to  pass  just  such  a  state  of 
affairs  as  Taine  described.  These  wreckers  of 
society,  unrestrained  by  principle  and  unham- 
pered by  conviction,  are  playing  with  the  fire  of 
human  passion  and  mob  violence.  They  attack 
a  conception  of  democracy  which  is  true,  in  its 
every  aspect,  in  the  hope  that  they  may  enthrone 
in  its  stead  a  democracy  which  is  false  and  futile. 
They  begin  by  playing  upon  the  term  "labor." 
Taking  note  of  the  fact  that  the  world's  workers 
constitute  all  but  an  insignificant  remnant  of  the 
world's  citizenship,  they  would  set  one  form  of 
labor  against  another,  and  confuse  and  confound 
the  meaning  of  the  term  "labor"  itself.  All  the 
world  over,  these  mischief-makers,  when  they  put 
forth  an  academic  theory,  use  the  term  "labor" 
in  a  way  to  include  every  form  of  productive 
activity.  For  that  purpose  the  inventor,  the 
overseer,  the  manager,  the  guide,  and  inspirer 
[25] 


of  an  undertaking,  is  a  laborer;  but  when  from 
the  height  of  academic  theory  they  come  down  to 
^  pjane  of  popular  agitation,  then  they  make 
the  term  "labor"  apply  to  manual  labor  alone. 
It  is  true  that  leading  economic  writers  themselves 
are  responsible  for  the  widespread  confusion 
between  these  two  uses  of  the  term  "  labor."  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  ordinary  manual  labor  is  just 
the  opposite  of  what  the  socialist  supposes  it  to  be. 
Instead  of  being  the  sole  instrument  in  the  pro- 
duction of  wealth,  as  the  modern  world  knows 
wealth,  it  is  a  subordinate  element  in  that  pro- 
duction. Manual  labor  is  always  essential,  to 
be  sure,  but  manual  labor  alone  does  not  now 
produce,  nor  has  it  ever  produced,  much  more 
than  a  mere  minimum  of  subsistence.  All  of 
the  increment  in  production  which  has  made  the 
modern  world  possible,  is  due  to  the  directing 
faculty,  to  the  capacity  to  organize,  to  manage, 
and  to  apply.  These  powers  and  capacities 
operate  both  through  labor  and  through  capital. 
Therefore,  to  attempt  to  substitute  the  mob  for 
the  people,  manual  labor  for  labor  in  all  its  forms, 
and  economic  equality  for  liberty,  is  to  destroy 
[26] 


all  those  institutions  and  accomplishments  upon   True  and 
which  man's  progress  has  rested  for  three  thou-  False 
sand  years,  and  which  man's  progress  during  that  ^emocracy 
period  has  developed  and  applied  in  so  astound- 
ing a  fashion. 

Sainte-Beuve   once   divided   authors   into  two  The  problem 

..      .   ,  ,  of  wealth 

two  classes  —  ceux  qui  agitent  le  monde  et  ceux 

qui  le  civilisent.  So  we  may  divide  statesmen  and 
leaders  of  public  opinion  into  those  who  disturb 
the  world  and  those  who  advance  its  civilization. 
The  touchstone  will  be  their  attitude  toward 
wealth.  It  is  wealth  —  accumulated  possessions 
of  value  in  excess  of  immediate  needs  —  that 
makes  leisure  possible,  and  with  leisure  comes 
genuine  human  living,  civilization.  The  world 
wants  more  wealth,  not  less.  To  aim  to  destroy 
wealth,  to  make  its  accumulation  impossible  or 
personally  disadvantageous,  is  to  disturb  and  dis- 
tress the  world,  and,  ultimately,  every  one  in  it. 
To  seek  to  promote  wealth,  to  secure  its  just  dis- 
tribution and  its  proper  use,  is  to  advance  the 
world's  civilization.  It  is  not  money,  much  less 
wealth,  which  is  the  root  of  all  evil,  but  the  love 
of  money.  The  cruel  lust  for  gain,  which  stifles 
[27] 


True  and      every  generous  instinct  and  all  desire  for  justice, 
False  is  the  despicable  thing,  and  that  is  a  purely  per- 

Democracy  sonai  characteristic  which  no  law  can  reach. 
Nothing  but  a  sense  of  honor  and  decency,  an 
appreciation  of  true  values,  and  a  genuinely 
moral  view  of  life,  will  cure  that  distressing  and 
painfully  contagious  disease.  To  hurl  at  a  moral 
and  intellectual  delinquency  such  as  this,  the  de- 
nunciations and  restrictions  of  the  law,  or  to  in- 
veigh against  wealth  as  such,  is  only  to  invite  such 
a  scathing  rebuke  as  Professor  Clifford's  invective 
against  Christianity  called  out  from  Matthew 
Arnold  when  he  wrote :  — 

"These  are  merely  the  crackling  fireworks  of 
youthful  paradox.  One  reads  it  all,  half  smiling, 
half  sighing,  as  the  declamation  of  a  clever  and 
confident  youth,  with  the  hopeless  inexperience, 
irredeemable  by  any  cleverness,  of  his  age.  Only 
when  one  is  young  and  headstrong  can  one  thus 
prefer  bravado  to  experience,  can  one  stand  by  the 
Sea  of  Time,  and,  instead  of  listening  to  the  solemn 
and  rhythmical  beat  of  its  waves,  choose  to  fill  the 
air  with  one's  own  whoopings  to  start  the  echo."  l 
1  Introduction  to  God  and  the  Bible. 
[28] 


Doubtless  the  mob  will  prefer  cheering  its  own    True  and 
whoopings  to  listening  to  the  solemn  and  rhyth-  False 
mical  beat  of  the  waves  of  the  Sea  of  Time,  but 
we  must  set  our  face  against  the  mob,  now  and 
always,  whether  it  wears  the  clothes  of  fashion  or 
the  workman's  blouse,  and  whether  it   is  vicious 
and  violent  or  merely  addle-pated  and  sullen. 

The  surest  antidote  to  the  mob  and  its  violence  Effective 

,     ,  ,  ,        ,  .  expression 

and  passion  is  to  secure,  in  orderly  and  legal  form, 


after  due  consideration  and  discussion,  the  prompt  °Pinion 
and  effective  execution  of  the  people's  will  and 
to  give  voice  to  the  people's  judgments  and  as- 
pirations.    This  raises  some  interesting  questions. 

In  our  own  form  of  government  there  are  Our  three 
established  three  independent,  but  cooperating, 
powers  and  agencies  for  representing  the  people 
and  for  executing  their  will  —  the  executive,  the 
legislative,  and  the  judicial  agency.  Each  im- 
mediately represents  the  people  in  its  own  way 
and  in  its  own  sphere,  and  that  sphere  is  and  should 
remain  inviolate.  Somehow  or  other  the  curious 
notion  has  been  spread  abroad  that  the  legisla- 
tive agency,  the  members  of  which  are  chosen  at 
short  intervals  and  by  small  constituencies,  more 
[29] 


fully  and  directly  represents  the  people  than  does 
either  the  executive  or  the  judicial  branch  of 
t^e  government  Members  of  the  legislative 
branch  of  the  government  have  themselves  ac- 
tively spread  abroad  this  notion  both  by  words  and 
by  acts.  It  is,  however,  not  only  untrue  in  theory, 
but  it  is  ludicrously  falsified  by  the  facts.  As 
matters  are  to-day,  and  as  they  have  been  for 
a  generation  past,  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  the  legislative  branch  of  the  national 
government,  is  far  inferior  to  the  executive  and 
the  judicial  branches,  as  a  direct  and  effective 
representative  of  the  will  and  purpose  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  It  is  primarily  the  President 
and  the  Supreme  Court  who  speak  the  people's 
maturest  mind  and  who  express,  in  spoken  and 
written  word,  in  administrative  act  and  in  judicial 
decision,  the  highest  will  of  the  whole  people. 

Moreover,  ever  since  the  Civil  War  the  Congress 
has  steadily  invaded  the  province  of  the  President, 
and  has  long  been  asserting  control,  directly  or 
indirectly,  over  his  administrative  acts.  At  the 
moment,  it  is  being  urged  to  invade  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  judiciary,  and  to  curtail  and  regulate 
[30] 


the  proceedings  in  equity  of  the  United  States  True  and 
courts  —  a  field  in  which  the  Congress  has  the  same  False 
right  and  authority  that  it  has  in  Corea  or  in  Democracy 
British  India,  no  more  and  no  less.  The  language 
of  the  Constitution  is  perfectly  plain:  "The 
judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested 
in  one  Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts 
as  the  Congress  may  from  time  to  time  ordain 
and  establish."  The  judicial  power  as  it  existed 
at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  is, 
therefore,  beyond  the  power  of  the  Congress  to 
restrict  or  diminish.  The  Congress  may  establish 
courts  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court,  but  surely, 
when  such  courts  are  established,  they  are  en- 
titled to  exercise  the  judicial  power  as  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  knew  it. 

This   invasion   of  the   executive   and   judicial  Legislative 

,          ,        ,      .  ,  „  ,    usurpation 

powers  by  the  legislature  is  often  accompanied 
by  an  effort  to  convince  the  people  at  large  that 
the  executive  power  is  in  some  subtle  way  antago- 
nistic to  democracy,  and,  moreover,  that  the  execu- 
tive is  invading  or  has  invaded  the  province 
of  the  legislature.  This  latter  cry,  as  insincere  as 
it  is  false,  is  invariably  raised  whenever  it  is  de- 
[31] 


True  and      sired  to  distract  public  attention  from  an  invasion 
False  of  the  executive  by  the  legislature,  or  when  some 

Democracy  prjvate  or  privileged  interest  wishes  to  ward  off 
from  itself  the  execution  of  the  people's  laws. 
James  Madison  understood  thoroughly  well  the 
dangers  of  legislative  encroachment.  In  the 
Federalist,1  he  wrote  of  the  Legislative  Depart- 
ment that  "its  constitutional  powers,  being  at 
once  more  extensive,  and  less  susceptible  of  pre- 
cise limits,  it  can,  with  the  greater  facility,  mask, 
under  complicated  and  intricate  measures,  the 
encroachments  which  it  makes  on  the  coordinate 
departments." 

In  the  same  exposition  he  added:  "In  a 
government  where  numerous  and  extensive  pre- 
rogatives are  placed  in  the  hands  of  an  hereditary 
monarch,  the  executive  department  is  very  justly 
regarded  as  the  source  of  danger,  and  watched  with 
all  the  jealousy  which  a  zeal  for  liberty  ought  to 
inspire.  In  a  democracy,  where  a  multitude  of 
people  exercise  in  person  the  legislative  functions, 
and  are  continually  exposed,  by  their  incapacity  for 
regular  deliberation  and  concerted  measures,  to 
'No.  48. 
[32] 


the  ambitious  intrigues  of  their  executive  magis-  True  and 
trates,  tyranny  may  well  be  apprehended,  on  some  False 
favorable  emergency,  to  start  up  in  the  same 
quarter.  But  in  a  representative  republic,  where 
the  executive  magistracy  is  carefully  limited,  both 
in  the  extent  and  the  duration  of  its  power; 
and  where  the  legislative  power  is  exercised  by  an 
assembly,  which  is  inspired,  by  a  supposed  in- 
fluence over  the  people,  with  an  intrepid  con- 
fidence in  its  own  strength;  which  is  sufficiently 
numerous  to  feel  all  the  passions  which  actuate  a 
multitude,  yet  not  so  numerous  as  to  be  incapable 
of  pursuing  the  objects  of  its  passions,  by  means 
which  reason  prescribes;  it  is  against  the  enter- 
prising ambition  of  this  department  that  the  people 
ought  to  indulge  all  their  jealousy  and  exhaust 
all  their  precautions." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  if  our  American  political 
experience  proves  anything,  it  proves  that  the 
executive  branch  of  the  government  is  the  most 
efficient  representative  and  spokesman  that  the 
popular  will  has.  So  it  was  with  Lincoln  in  the 
Civil  War ;  so  it  was  with  Cleveland  in  the  struggle 
for  a  sound  monetary  system ;  so  it  is  with  Roose- 
[33] 


True  and      velt   in  the   battle   against   privilege   and   greed. 

False  Indeed  in  a  very  real  sense  the  popular  will  in  the 

Democracy    United   states   has   no   other  representative,   for 

political    purposes,    than    the    President.     The 

President  of  the  United  States  is  chosen  by  the 

whole  people  with  a  view  to  his  personality,  his 

temperament,    his    private    convictions,    and    his 

The  executive  political  principles.     The  people  know  who  he  is 
a   representa- 
tive of  the        and  all  about  him.     When  chosen  he  owes  no 

people  responsibility  to  the  Congress,  but  to  the  people  of 

the  United  States  alone.  When  he  lays  down  his 
office  he  lays  it  down  to  the  one  whom  the  people 
have  chosen  to  succeed  him;  but  so  long  as  he 
exercises  its  power  he  exercises  it  in  the  people's 
name  and  in  the  people's  sight.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  system,  unfortunate  in  high  degree,  of 
small  constituencies  having  individual  representa- 
tives in  state  and  national  legislatures  who  are 
almost  uniformly  residents  of  the  districts  for 
which  they  are  elected,  has  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum the  truly  representative  capacity  and  effi- 
ciency of  those  bodies  and  has  deprived  them  of 
many  elements  of  power.  For  it  is  well-nigh  a 
political  axiom  that  large  constituencies  make 
[34] 


independent  representatives  and  that  small  con-    True  and 
stituencies  make  tools  and  ciphers.     We  must  not  False 
forget  how  much  farther  a  bullet  will  carry  than  a 
few  score  of  small  shot. 

Where  is  it  that  private  interest  goes  when  it 
wishes  to  burke  an  expression  of  the  popular  will  ? 

Not  to  the  executive,  not  to  the  private  cham- 
bers of  the  judges,  but  to  the  committee-rooms 
and  to  the  floor  of  the  legislative  assemblies  in 
state  and  nation.  There  responsibility  is  so  di- 
vided, there  secrecy  is  so  easy,  that  measures  de- 
manded by  the  people  may  be  done  to  death, 
despite  the  urging  of  national  and  state  executives. 
As  matters  stand  to-day,  states  and  syndicates 
have  senators;  districts  and  local  interests  have 
representatives;  but  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States  have  only  the  President  to  speak 
for  them  and  to  do  their  will. 

True  democracy,  therefore,  while  seeking  by 
all  possible  means  to  improve  the  quality  of  its 
legislatures  and  to  make  them  representative  of 
principles  and  ideas  rather  than  of  special  and 
local  interests,  will  strengthen  the  executive  arm 
and  protect  it  from  legislative  invasion  in  matters 
[35] 


True  and      purely   administrative.     It   will,   through   consti- 
false  tutional  forms  and  by  limitation  of  term,  hold  the 

Democracy    executive  strictly  answerable  for  the  discharge  of 
his  duty  and  for  the  bearing  of  his  responsibility. 
We  are  constantly  told  by  the  prophets  of  false 
democracy  that  the  efficient  administration  which 
Confusion        is  secured  by  single  responsible  agents  is  undemo- 
ment  and         cratic.     The   notion   of  these   false   prophets  is, 
administra-      j  SUppOSCj  that  no  man  can  be  justly  convicted  of 
crime   in  a  democracy  until  each  of  his   fellow- 
citizens  in  turn  has  mounted  the  bench  and  passed 
upon  the  evidence.     They  appear  to  believe  that 
no  administrative   act   can   be   truly  democratic 
unless  the  people  en  masse  assemble  to  institute 
and    to    approve    it.     This    doctrine,   constantly 
repeated  by  the   unthinking,   is   both  absurd  in 
itself  and  the  reductio  ad  absurdum  of  government. 
It  not  only  separates  decision  from  deliberation, 
but  it  misses  the  fundamental  distinction  between 
government  and  administration.     No  government 
is    democratic  which  does  not    spring    from  the 
people's  will,  and  which  is  not  answerable  to  the 
people  in  forms  and  ways  that  the  people  them- 
selves have  determined.     Administration,  on  the 
[36] 


other  hand,  is  merely  the  transaction  of  the  people's    True  and 
business,  and  a  democracy  is  as  well  entitled  as  a  False 
monarchy  to  have  its  business  well  and  promptly  Democracy 
done.     It  will,  therefore,  if  its  democracy  is  true, 
adopt  precisely  the  modes  and  agencies  of  ad- 
ministration that  any  business  undertaking  would 
adopt  to  secure  similar  aims.     It  is  a  false,  spuri- 
ous, and  misleading  democracy  that  would  destroy 
efficiency  in  working  out  the  people's  policies  by 
insisting  that  all  the  people  shall  join  in  working 
them  out.     The  people  determine,  the  people's 
agent   executes.     When   we   get   this   distinction 
clearly  in  mind  we  shall  cease  to  be  troubled  by 
many  so-called  reforms  that  are  urged  upon  us  in 
democracy's  name. 

One  unfortunate  effect  of  the  false  conceptions  EvUs  of 
of  democracy  that  are  now  so  widespread  among 
us  is  the  steady  decline  in  reverence  and  respect 
in  the  United  States,  not  only  for  age,  attainment, 
and  authority,  but  for  law  itself.  The  essence  of 
democracy  is  not  subordination,  but  association; 
yet  the  object  of  this  association  is  obedience  to 
government  as  the  result  of  a  common  deliberation 
through  duly  constituted  authorities.  To  those 
[37] 


True  and      authorities  respect  is  due  by  every  real  democrat. 

False  The  mob  yields  none  and  will  yield  none. 

Democracy  Many  causes  have  contributed  no  doubt  to 
bring  about  this  decline  in  respect  and  reverence 
for  authority  and  law.  The  weakening  of  reli- 
gious faith,  the  loosening  of  the  bonds  of  parental 
control,  the  absence  of  real  discipline  from  school 
life,  have  all  been  at  work  to  undermine  the  foun- 
dations of  respect  and  reverence.  We  shall  never 
get  back  to  a  true  democracy,  however,  until  the 
majesty  of  the  law  excites  reverence  and  respect 
on  its  own  account;  until  the  family  bond  is 
drawn  closer  and  tighter,  and  until  children  honor 
their  parents  as  they  did  of  old ;  and  until  the 
school  understands  that  abdication  of  authority 
is  not  a  solution  for  the  difficulties  of  discipline. 

Ideals  of  A  free  state  built  upon  free  labor,  with  liberty  for 

democracy  ^ts  wa*chword  and  justice  as  its  guide,  is  the  ideal 
of  a  true  democracy  —  that  form  of  society,  which 
Lowell  characterized  so  suggestively  if  incom- 
pletely as  one  in  which  every  man  has  a  chance 
and  knows  that  he  has  it.  To  the  hectic,  emo- 
tional radicalism  which  clamors  for  the  exaltation 
[38] 


of  the  mediocre  and  the  unfit,  and  upon  which    True  and 
false  democracy  builds,  true  democracy  will  oppose  False 
a  healthy,  intellectual  radicalism  that  will  seek  to  Derrwcracy 
see  life  steadily  and  to  see  it  whole ;  a  radicalism 
that  will  aim  to  redress  old  wrongs  without  in- 
flicting new  ones.     This  radicalism  of  true  de- 
mocracy —  if  it  be  radicalism  —  sees  the  end  of  a 
perfected  individualism  not  in  selfishness  but  in 
service,  not  in  isolation  but  in  fraternity.     It  has 
no  idle  dreams  of  Nature  dethroned  and  Artifice 
exalted  in  her  stead.     It  sees  in  the  dedicated  life 
the  ideal  of  Liberty's  best  product.     It  dares  to 
hope  that  of  this  twentieth  century  and  of  this 
fair  land  of  ours,  it  will  not  be  impossible  for 
another  Macaulay  some  day  to  write :  — 
"  Then  none  was  for  a  party ; 

Then  all  were  for  the  state; 
Then  the  great  man  helped  the  poor, 

And  the  poor  man  helped  the  great : 
Then  lands  were  fairly  portioned ; 

Then  spoils  were  fairly  sold : 
The  Romans  were  like  brothers 

In  the  brave  days  of  old." 


[39] 


EDUCATION  OF  PUBLIC   OPINION 


AN  ADDRESS 
DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN  ON  COMMENCEMENT  DAY, 
JUNE  22,   1899 


EDUCATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION 

PERICLES,  in  his  immortal  panegyric  upon  the  Education 
Athenian  people,  describes  as  accomplished  fact  °f  Public 
in  Athens  a  state   of  affairs  which   every  philo-  Opinion 
sophical  expounder  of  democracy  has  pictured  as 
an  ideal.     "An  Athenian  citizen,"  said  the  man 
whom  Grote  describes  as  having  enjoyed  for  forty 
years  an  unparalleled  moral  and  political  ascen- 
dency over  them,  "An  Athenian  citizen  does  not 
neglect  the  state  because  he  takes  care  of  his  own 
household ;  and  even  those  of  us  who  are  engaged 
in  business  have  a  very  fair  idea  of  politics.     We 
alone  regard  a  man  who  takes  no  interest  in  public 
affairs,  not  as  a  harmless,  but  as  a  useless  charac- 
ter;  and  if  few  of  us  are  originators,  we  are  all 
sound  judges  of  a  policy."  * 

It  is  not  inappropriate  to  summon  cultivated 
men  and  women,  peculiarly  fortunate  in  the  en- 
joyment of  those  educational  advantages  which 

1  Thucydides,  translated  by  Jowett,  1 : 19. 
[43] 


Education 
of  Public 
Opinion 


Place  of 
public 
opinion 
in  a 
democracy 


only  free,  enlightened,  and  generous  common- 
wealths can  offer,  to  consider  some  aspects  of  the 
relation  in  which  the  individual  citizen  stands  to 
the  development  of  public  opinion  and  to  the  con- 
duct of  public  business  in  a  democracy. 

The  political  vitality  and  integrity  of  a  modern 
state  must  rest,  in  the  last  instance,  upon  the 
character  and  clearness  of  the  political  opinions 
held  by  men  who  are  without  official  station.  No 
administrative  vigor  and  no  legislative  wisdom  can 
long  survive  in  the  vacuum  of  public  ignorance 
and  indifference.  A  supporting  body  of  opinion 
is  essential  to  the  conduct  of  legislative  or  ad- 
ministrative policy,  and  a  serious  and  high- 
principled  opposition  is  necessary  to  prevent  its 
exaggeration  and  abuse.  The  basis  for  this  ob- 
servation lies  in  the  constitution  of  human  nature 
itself.  It  is  amply  illustrated  by  history. 

Political  action  on  the  part  of  a  community  or  a 
state  is  the  result  of  the  interplay  of  two  forces,  the 
propelling  and  the  resisting.  Taken  together  and 
increased  by  the  religious  and  the  moral  sentiments 
of  the  people,  these  political  beliefs  and  tendencies 
to  act  constitute  what  is  known  as  public  opinion, 
[44] 


It  is  a  subtle,  powerful,  and  sometimes  terrible  Education 
force.  Like  the  mountain  stream  which  ripples  °f  Public 
softly  in  the  sunlight,  giving  no  sign  of  the  foam- 
ing  and  destructive  torrent  into  which  a  sudden 
cloudburst  may  transform  it,  so  public  opinion, 
patient  and  long-suffering,  at  times  seeming  even 
dead,  is  capable  of  being  roused  to  fury  and  to 
resolute  resistance  by  some  flagrant  abuse  of  power 
or  by  an  unprincipled  violation  of  accepted  stand- 
ards of  action.  Sir  Robert  Peel  hardly  measured 
its  breadth  and  depth  when  with  cynical  insight 
he  described  public  opinion  as  "that  great  com- 
pound of  folly,  weakness,  prejudice,  wrong  feel- 
ing, right  feeling,  obstinacy,  and  newspaper 


Public  opinion  is  not  very  old.     It  is  the  child  Public 
of  the  art  of  printing,  of  modern  education,  of  new  creation 
modern  means  of  communication,  of  modern  de- 
mocracy.    Printing  and  education  made  it  pos- 
sible.    Steam  and  electricity  have  developed  it 
enormously.     Democracy  has  caused  it  to  grow 
through  exercise.     As  democratic  tendencies  and 
habits  have  spread,  as  the  circle  of  human  infor- 
mation and  human  interest  has  widened,  as  the 
[45] 


means  of  communication  between  man  and  man 
and  between  man  and  the  world  about  him  have 
expanded  and  multiplied,  the  complexity  of  public 
opinion  has  greatly  increased;  and  while  the 
difficulty  of  arousing  it  has  diminished,  the  diffi- 
culty of  directing  it  has  increased  many  fold. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  we  enter  upon  the  twentieth 
century  under  unprecedented  political  conditions. 
Most  early  democracies  were  in  reality  oligarchies. 
Modern  theoretical  democracy  was  quite  as  often 
oligarchical  in  fact.  Jefferson,  like  Aristotle,  con- 
templated democracy  and  human  slavery  side  by 
side.  But  now  the  level  of  average  intelligence  and 
of  education  has  been  so  raised,  and  man's  power 
over  nature  has  so  multiplied  the  possibilities  of 
political,  moral,  and  religious  sympathy  and  coop- 
eration, that  for  the  first  time  in  history  the  stage 
seems  to  be  adequately  set  for  the  working  out  of 
the  impressive  drama  of  democracy.  The  builders 
of  the  American  Republic  were,  most  of  them,  theo- 
retical democrats ;  but  the  forces  which  they  con- 
trolled and  the  means  by  which  they  controlled 
them  were  to  an  unsuspected  extent  oligarchical. 
More  than  one  election  in  old  New  York,  as,  go 
[46] 


often  in  the  history  of  England,  turned  wholly  Education 

upon  the  alignment  of  a  few  great  families.     The  °f  Public 

French    revolutionists    came    to    be    theoretical  (JPinwn 

democrats,  but  woe  to  the  leaders  of  an  opposing 

faction  whose  opposition  took  on  the  form  of 

action  !    To-day  the  situation  in  the  United  States 

is  notably  different.     If  men  are  held  here  in 

political  bondage,  so  called,  it  is  because  they  put 

the  shackles  on  themselves.     Accurate  description 

of  their  condition  must  always  use  a  reflexive  verb. 

Freedom  of  speech  and  of  opinion  are  so  well 

established  and  so  uniformly  acquiesced  in,  that 

public  declarations  and  acts  of  a  kind  which  one 

day  cost  More  his  head  on  Tower  Hill  or  drove 

Roger  Williams  from  Massachusetts  Bay,  are  now 

permitted    in    Boston    and    in    Chicago   without 

restraint,  or  any  call  to  accountability,  despite 

the  fact  that  they  may  tend  to  cost  the  lives  of 

American  soldiers  and  sailors  serving  under  the 

flag  half-way  round  the  world.     In  the  long  run 

it  is  better  so.     A  safety-valve  is  as  necessary  as  a 

steam-chest. 

This  state  of  affairs  has  come  about  through  the 
slow  process  of  social  and  political  evolution.     The 
[47] 


Education 
of  Public 
Opinion 


Passing  of 
class  dis- 
tinctions 


Complex 
relationships 
of  the 
individual 


Estates  which  underlay  the  entire  legal  structure 
of  the  Middle  Ages  and  gave  form  to  its  political 
history,  dissolved  and  gave  way  to  more  mobile 
and  less  definite  social  classes.  These,  in  turn, 
have  so  interpenetrated  each  other  that,  in  the 
United  States  at  least,  their  significance  has  dis- 
appeared, and  a  single  body  politic,  through  which 
flow  unending  convection  currents,  has  taken  their 
place.  No  artificial  class  distinctions  can  long 
prevail  in  a  society  like  ours,  of  which  it  is  truly 
said  to  be  often  but  three  generations  "  from  shirt- 
sleeves to  shirt-sleeves." 

The  first  effect  of  this  new  condition  is  that, 
theoretically  at  least,  individual  choice  displaces 
status  as  the  force  directing  public  action.  The 
citizen  now  throws  his  influence  as  he  wills  and 
not  as  his  fixed  relation  to  his  fellows  dictates. 
He  has  no  such  fixed  relation.  Modern  legal  and 
social  organization  makes  him  employer  and  em- 
ployed, debtor  and  creditor,  public  servant  and 
private  citizen,  all  at  once  or  in  startlingly  rapid 
succession.  His  individual  importance  is  vastly 
increased  as  his  points  of  contact  with  other  indi- 
viduals or  with  groups  multiply.  He  becomes  less 
[48] 


and  less  a  cog  on  a  blindly  driven  wheel  and  more  Education 
and  more  a  living  cell  in  a  living  body.  His  °f  Public 
political  and  social  health  and  strength  influence  °Pinwn 
the  health  and  strength  of  countless  others.  He 
cannot,  if  he  would,  cut  himself  off  from  them 
and  live.  There  is  no  greater  illusion  and  none 
more  at  war  with  the  very  spirit  of  democracy 
than  that  under  whose  spell  public  concerns  are 
neglected  and  despised  and  one's  immediate  pri- 
vate and  family  interests  exalted  as  the  sole  busi- 
ness of  life.  Liberty  and  property  are  social 
creations.  Without  society  they  could  not  exist. 
Without  a  well-ordered  society  they  are  not  safe. 
Who  shall  order  society  well  or  ill  ?  The  time  is 
happily  past  when  that  question  can  be  answered 
in  more  ways  than  one.  But  let  us  press  the  ques- 
tion of  responsibility  home:  there  is  no  abstrac- 
tion, no  independent  creation  called  state  or 
government,  which  can  order  society.  These  are 
but  names  for  one  aspect  or  one  agency  of  our- 
selves. We  paraphrase  the  dictum  of  Louis  XIV. 
and  thank  him  for  it  —  "  The  State  —  we  are  it ! " 

Burke  pointed  straight  at  the  typical  bad  citizen  The  bad 
when  he  described  those  "who  think  their  innox- 
[49] 


Education 
of  Public 
Opinion 


The  individ- 
ual and  the 
mass 


ious  indolence  their  security."  The  man  who 
submits  to  public  imposition  to  save  trouble  or 
trifling  expense,  or  who  pays  to  be  "let  alone," 
or  who,  priding  himself  upon  his  integrity  and 
business  success,  affects  to  "despise  politics,"  is 
contributing  his  mite  to  the  degradation  of  govern- 
ment and  to  the  tearing  down  of  the  structure 
so  laboriously  and  so  painfully  builded  by  the 
fathers.  John  Hampden's  ship-money  was  but 
a  few  paltry  shillings;  not  to  have  resisted  its 
payment  might  have  altered  the  course  of  English 
history.  It  is  only  when  we  "place  every  one  his 
private  welfare  and  happiness  in  the  public  peace, 
liberty,  and  safety,"  as  Milton  puts  it,  that  we 
exercise  our  privilege  and  perform  our  duty  as 
members  of  society. 

The  relation  in  which  the  individual  stands  to 
the  development  of  public  opinion  is  a  matter 
which  requires  analysis.  It  is  not  quite  so  simple 
as  appears  at  first  sight.  Theoretically,  when  a 
question  is  to  be  decided  or  a  public  attitude  taken, 
each  individual  examines  and  weighs  the  evidence 
and  the  arguments  for  and  against  a  given  policy, 
and  arrives  at  his  own  independent  conclusion. 
[50] 


A  count  is  then  made,  by  ballot  or  otherwise,  and  Education 
the  action  or  proposal  which  is  approved  by  a  of  Public 
majority  of  those  expressing  themselves  is  sup-   Vplnwn 
ported    or    indorsed.     Each   citizen    appears    to 
have  the  same  part  to  play  as  his  neighbor,  and 
the  same  influence  to  exercise  in  determining  the 
result.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  process 
is  a  quite  different  one. 

Bagehot  has  an  interesting  passage  in  which  he  Part  played 

by  uncon- 

shows  how  large  a  factor  unconscious  imitation  SCious  imita- 
is  in  the  making  of  national  character.  "At  first  tlon 
a  sort  of  'chance  predominance'  made  a  model, 
and  then  invincible  attraction,  the  necessity  which 
rules  all  but  the  strongest  men  to  imitate  what  is 
before  their  eyes,  and  to  be  what  they  are  expected 
to  be,  moulded  men  by  that  model.  This  is,  I 
think,  the  very  process  by  which  new  national 
characters  are  being  made  in  our  time.  ...  A 
national  character  is  but  the  successful  parish 
character;  just  as  the  national  speech  is  but  the 
successful  parish  dialect,  the  dialect,  that  is,  of  the 
district  which  came  to  be  more  —  in  many  cases 
but  a  little  more  —  influential  than  other  dis- 
tricts, and  so  set  its  yoke  on  books  and  on 
[51] 


Education     society."1     It  is  obvious  that  when  we  speak  of 
of  Public      the  Age  of  Elizabeth  or  the  Napoleonic  era,  we 
Opinion        mean  something  very  like  this.    We  are  describing 
or   recalling   types,  tendencies,    and    standards, 
which,  particular  or  even  individual  in  their  ori- 
gin, spread  themselves,  through  the  working  of 
imitation  conscious  or  unconscious,  over  an  entire 
people  for  a  generation  or  more. 

When  we  endeavor  to  direct  public  opinion  or 
to  study  its  genesis,  we  are  surprised  and  aston- 
ished to  find  how  small  a  share  the  ordinary  indi- 
vidual has  in  making  up  his  own  mind ;  and  while 
claiming  independence,  how  largely  he  is  depend- 
ent on  forces  and  influences  with  which  the  stu- 
dent of  psychology  and  of  history  is  very  familiar. 
This  is  due,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  very  small 
part  which  genuine  thinking  plays  in  the  life  of 
any  of  us.  We  are  a  bundle  of  reactions,  and  those 
reactions  which  are  systematically  directed  by 
serious  and  sustained  thought  are  not  very  numer- 
ous. Except  for  the  purpose  of  living  up  to  our 
reputation  as  human  beings  and  for  emergencies, 
most  of  us  could  get  on  very  well  with  considerably 
1  Bagehot,  Physics  and  Politics,  pp.  36,  37. 
[52] 


diminished  brain  surface.  Dr.  Maudsley  put  the  Education 
matter  correctly  when  he  said:  "To  say  that  the  of  Public 
great  majority  of  men  reason  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  word,  is  the  greatest  nonsense  in  the  world; 
they  get  their  beliefs  as  they  do  their  instincts 
and  their  habits,  as  a  part  of  their  inherited  consti- 
tution, of  their  education,  and  the  routine  of  their 
lives."  The  part  which  we  thoughtlessly  attribute 
to  thought  in  guiding  our  beliefs  and  our  actions, 
is  really  played,  for  the  most  part,  by  feeling  and 
by  imitation.  We  grow  up  Republicans  or  Demo- 
crats, Presbyterians  or  Episcopalians ;  we  do  not 
reason  ourselves  —  as  a  rule  —  into  the  one  form 
of  belief  or  the  other,  be  it  political  or  religious. 
We  find  our  way  naturally  into  a  group  or  class 
by  reason  of  hereditary  tendencies,  family  ex- 
ample, or  influence,  and  that  impalpable  ether  of 
surrounding  opinion,  which,  despite  its  impalpa- 
bility, regulates  so  much  of  our  mental  breathing. 
Then  we  energetically  support  our  faith-formed 
convictions  with  ex  parte  reasons  which  appeal  to 
the  intellect.  Like  the  Schoolmen,  the  motto  of 
most  of  us  is  Credo,  ut  intelligam.  We  believe 
first  and  defend  our  beliefs  afterward. 
[53] 


Education  I  do  not  for  a  moment  intend  to  convey  the  im- 
of  Public  pression  that  we  should  hold  no  belief  and  take  no 
Opinion  action  for  which  an  impartially  reasoned  theory 
cannot  be  given.  Such  a  doctrine  would  bring 
civilization  to  a  standstill  through  paralysis;  for 
the  average  individual  has  neither  the  capacity 
nor  the  opportunity  to  examine  in  a  sternly  judicial 
fashion  the  beliefs  and  the  tendencies  to  act  which 
come  surging  through  his  experience.  But  we 
should  look  the  facts  in  the  face,  and  "  render  there- 
fore unto  Csesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's." 
We  should  give  the  feelings  and  the  imitative  in- 
stinct their  due.  When  we  do  this  we  shall  come 
nearer  to  understanding  how  that  public  opinion 
of  which  we  and  our  neighbors  are  a  part  is  formed, 
and  how  it  may  be  and  is  changed  or  developed. 
Otherwise  we  shall  lose  sight  of  the  all-important 
fact  which  Montesquieu  long  ago  pointed  out, 
that  as  society  grows  older  the  individual  influ- 
ences the  community  less  and  the  community 
shapes  the  individual  more.  Indeed,  formal  edu- 
cation itself  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  this 
shaping  of  the  individual  by  the  community,  and 
the  bending  of  him  to  its  traditions,  its  habits,  its 
[54] 


convictions,  —  in  short,  to  its  will.     The  conscious  Education 
reason  of  any  individual,  as  compared  to  the  sum  of  Public 
total  of  his  apparently  rational  but  really  extra-  Opinion 
rational  possessions,  is  in  the  position  of  the  apex 
of  an  inverted  pyramid.     One  is  forcibly  reminded 
by  it  of  the  way  in  which  Hume  and  Mill  under- 
take to  explain  our  belief  in  an  external  world, 
from  the  momentary  flashes  of  a  given  conscious- 
ness. 

It  is  an  illusion  of  some  writers  on  democracy  uneven 
that  the  march  of  public  opinion  moves  on  with  ]J  p*£JJ* 
the  evenness  and  the  regularity  of  an  army  on  opinion 
parade.  The  contrary  is  the  case.  If  from  some 
distant  planet  we  might  be  so  endowed  as  to  view 
public  opinion  pressing  forward  in  the  United 
States,  we  should  find  its  skirmish-line  serried  and 
broken.  Here  on  one  side  of  the  field  some  daring 
and  creative  leader  has  dashed  ahead  and  occu- 
pied an  exposed  height  with  his  small  band  of 
followers,  and  is  calling  upon  the  troops  to  follow 
and  to  join  him.  But  they,  interested  in  other 
directions,  are  a  long  time  in  hearing  and  a  still 
longer  time  in  heeding  his  call.  We  readily 
recognize  that  it  has  been  after  this  fashion  that 
[55] 


Education 
of  Public 
Opinion 


The  elite  in 
a  democracy 


the  movements  for  the  reform  of  the  civil  service 
and  of  the  ballot  were  set  in  motion ;  it  is  in  this 
way  that  one  needed  political  reform  after  another 
will  be  brought  about.  A  little  leaven  will  leaven 
the  whole  lump.  In  so  far  Matthew  Arnold's 
discouraging  doctrine  of  the  remnant  has  some 
significance  for  us. 

It  is  true,  as  Le  Bon  says,  that  the  advances  of 
civilization  are  due  to  the  small  phalanx  of  emi- 
nent men  which  each  civilized  people  possesses. 
Least  of  all  can  a  democracy  hope  to  succeed 
without  an  elite  of  its  own.  Only  we  must  see  to 
it  that  this  elite  is  recruited  from  talent  or  capacity 
for  public  service  of  whatever  kind,  and  is  not 
artificially  limited  by  conditions  of  birth  or  of 
wealth.  In  this  respect  I  like  to  think  that  our 
practice  is  in  advance  of  our  rather  shabby  theory 
as  to  equality.  Nature  knows  no  such  thing  as 
equality.  It  is  a  human  invention  thrown  up  as 
an  artificial  barrier  against  selfishness  and  tyranny. 
The  law  of  life  is  the  development  of  the  hetero- 
geneous, the  dissimilar,  the  unequal.  It  tends 
away  from  the  dull  inefficiency  of  uniform  equality 
toward  the  high  effectiveness  of  well-organized 
[56] 


differences.  Destroy  inequality  of  talent  and  Education 
capacity,  and  life  as  we  know  it  stops.  Democ-  °f  Public 
racy  becomes  unthinkable.  The  corner-stone  of  Op™™11 
democracy  is  natural  inequality,  its  ideal  the 
selection  of  the  most  fit.  Liberty  is  far  more 
precious  than  equality,  and  the  two  are  mutually 
destructive.  It  is  said  that  if  all  the  hills  and 
mountains  of  Europe  were  levelled  off,  it  would 
result  in  producing  a  barren,  dismal  plain  some 
nine  hundred  and  odd  feet  higher  than  the  present 
shore-line.  The  beauty  and  the  productiveness 
of  a  continent  would  be  gone.  If  all  the  wealth 
of  the  United  States  were  divided  equally  among 
the  population,  it  is  estimated  that  we  should  each 
possess  a  capital  of  about  $1100.  Industry  would 
be  reduced  to  the  lowest  level  ever  known  in 
modern  times,  everything  which  makes  life  agree- 
able would  go  out  of  it,  and  we  should  all  be  driven 
to  a  conflict  and  struggle  for  a  bare  subsistence 
to  which  the  state  of  primitive  war  described  by 
Hobbes  would  be  as  nothing. 

In  practice,  however,  we  are  more  reasonable. 
Our  human  delight  in  achievement  thrusts  our 
book-made  theory  aside,  and  we  cheerfully  recog- 
[57] 


nize  leadership  and  public  benefaction,  though 
we  know  we  could  not  have  done  as  well.  A  sort 
of  race  or  national  pietas  is  an  excellent  trait  to 
cultivate,  and  we  need  more  of  it  rather  than  less. 
Our  occasional  outbursts  of  appreciation  and 
affection  toward  a  public  servant  or  representative 
whose  achievements  have  been  specially  note- 
worthy, are  creditable  in  high  degree.  Such 
tributes  ennoble  the  people  who  have  delighted 
to  pay  them,  and  they  whisper  to  us  that  after  all 
the  only  equality  we  really  believe  in  is  equality 
of  rights  and  of  opportunity. 

The  individual  who  realizes  what  public  opinion 
is  and  what  is  his  own  proper  relation  to  it  has, 
then,  two  things  to  bear  in  mind :  (1)  what  he  does 
not  know,  and  (2)  who  knows  it.  It  is  his  duty 
so  to  master  some  field  of  human  interest  and 
activity,  however  humble  or  however  small,  that 
he  can,  as  to  it,  offer  something  to  his  neighbor 
worthy  of  imitation  and  of  rational  acceptance. 
It  is  his  duty,  too,  to  seek  the  best  and  highest 
models  for  imitation  and  rational  acceptance  in 
fields  apart  from  his  own,  and  to  recognize  ex- 
cellence and  fitness  wherever  found  and  to  defer 
[58] 


to  them.     The  crude  and  dangerous  notion  that  Education 
any  citizen  is  as  well  fitted  as  his  neighbor  for  of  Public 
any  public  post  is  not  a  tenet  of  democracy,  but  Vplnwn 
of  ochlocracy,  rule  by  the  mob. 

For  the  conduct  of  public  business  the  party  The  party 
system  has  been  devised  and  slowly  perfected,  Sys  * 
until  in  England  and  in  the  United  States  it  has 
reached  a  high  degree  of  organization  and  effi- 
ciency.    Its  influence  in  shaping,  in  controlling, 
and  in  expressing  public  opinion  is  so  enormous 
that  it  deserves  most  careful  consideration. 

Political  parties  had  their  origin  in  personal 
interests  which  it  was  desired  to  transform  into 
public  policies,  and  they  are  very  far  from  having 
lost  that  characteristic  to-day.  Yet  they,  and  they 
alone,  make  popular  government  possible,  and 
the  individual  has  a  duty  toward  them  which  is 
neither  fulfilled  nor  commuted  by  the  denuncia- 
tion of  party  abuses  or  by  cynical  contempt  for 
party  limitations  and  shortcomings.  Men  must 
cooperate,  and  to  cooperate  for  political  purposes 
is  to  be  a  member  of  a  political  party.  One  may 
be  a  member  of  a  party  formally  and  so  hope 
to  exercise  some  influence  upon  its  policies,  or  he 
[59] 


may  support  it  generally  without  professing  al- 
legiance to  its  public  declarations  or  loyalty  to  its 
leaders.  In  the  latter  case,  he  destroys  almost  all 
chance  of  being  heard  concerning  constructive 
policies  and  measures,  and  in  return  gains  per- 
haps something  in  the  power  of  free  and  destruc- 
tive criticism;  although  this  is  on  the  whole 
doubtful.  In  any  event,  he  makes,  in  my  judg- 
ment, a  distinct  sacrifice,  and  impairs  his  influence 
as  a  factor  in  shaping  public  opinion.  I  assent 
cordially  to  the  doctrine  that  a  political  party  is 
a  means  and  not  an  end,  and  to  the  claim  that  the 
upright  and  conscientious  citizen  will  at  times  be 
forced  to  separate  himself  from  his  party  associa- 
tions because  of  his  objection  to  some  party  policy 
or  to  some  party  representative.  But  this  ought 
to  be  an  unusual  and  abnormal  act,  and  never 
taken  without  due  regard  for  a  sense  of  proportion 
and  after  careful  weighing  of  the  probable  in- 
fluence of  the  act  upon  remote  as  well  as  upon 
immediate  ends.  It  is  not  infrequently  good  judg- 
ment in  politics  to  bear  those  ills  we  have  rather 
than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of. 

As  a  practical  matter,  it  has  been  a  distinct  gain 
[60] 


to  our  American  politics  that  during  the  past  Education 

twenty  years  there  have  been  influential  individuals  °f  Public 

and  groups,  and  influential  journals,  which  have  Upmion 
professed  and  acted  upon  a  policy  of  independence 

of  party.     This  is  particularly  true  where  has  been  Action  ^de_ 

discovered  that  basest  device  of  partisans,  an  open  pendent  of 

party 
or  concealed  alliance  of  the  party  organizers  of 

both  parties  against  political  virtue  and  disinter- 
ested public  service.  In  such  a  case,  a  guerilla 
warfare  on  behalf  of  virtue  and  decency  is  about 
all  that  is  possible,  and  it  ought  always  to  be 
waged  unceasingly.  The  inveterate  independent 
does  a  public  service  so  long  as  his  independence 
is  certainly  based  on  principle  and  is  without  sus- 
picion of  personal  feeling.  He  must,  however, 
resign  himself  to  being  effective  only  through 
criticism,  and  at  the  risk  of  his  critical  habit  be- 
coming censoriousness  and  querulousness.  The 
public  quickly  resent  either.  If  he  is  able,  now 
and  then,  to  accomplish  any  constructive  work  in 
the  field  of  legislation,  his  agent  will  prove  to  have 
been  either  the  political  party  he  has  lately  left 
or  the  political  party  he  has  not  yet  joined. 
But  an  extension  of  the  policy  of  acting  in  small, 
[61] 


Education  indefinite,  swiftly  evaporating  groups,  outside  of 
of  Public  the  large  party  organizations  and  in  opposition 
Opinion  to  tnem>  WOuld  be  a  distinct  loss  and  a  danger  to 
our  political  system.  An  independent  vote  which 
must  be  reasoned  with  and  convinced,  and  which 
is  able  to  turn  the  scale  of  success  now  in  one 
direction  and  now  in  another,  is  a  most  admirable 
political  stimulant.  It  spurs  the  parties  on  to  their 
best  efforts,  and  exerts  an  influence  out  of  all 
proportion  to  its  numbers.  Yet  to  disintegrate 
political  parties  in  the  interest  of  cross-voting  of 
all  kinds  and  on  all  occasions  would  be  disastrous. 
To  see  to  what  it  would  lead,  one  has  only  to  recall 
the  kaleidoscopic  changes  of  former  years  in  the 
government  of  France,  based  upon  successive 
votes  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  or  to  recall  the 
methods  by  which  Bismarck  was  accustomed  to 
build  up  a  parliamentary  majority  in  the  Reich- 
stag. In  this  matter,  as  in  others,  it  is  not  wise 
to  overlook  the  saying  of  Aristotle,  in  his  Politics : 
"Two  principles  have  to  be  kept  in  view:  what  is 
possible,  what  is  becoming;  at  these  every  man 
ought  to  aim."  To  fail  to  see  the  possible  in 
politics  in  the  pursuit  of  the  becoming,  is  to  forbid 
[62] 


accomplishment.     Such  an  one  is  like  the  Hora-  Education 

tian  rustic :  —  of  Public 

Rusticus  expectat  dum  defluat  amnis;  at  ille  Opinion 

Labitur  et  labetur  in  omne  volubilis  aevum. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  fail  to  see  the  becoming 
in  clutching  at  the  possible,  is  to  fall  into  the  habit 
of  opportunism,  of  shifting  compromise,  which 
can  only  end  by  reducing  principle  to  interest. 
The  true  spirit  of  compromise,  as  marked  off 
from  the  spurious,  will  consider,  with  Aristotle, 
both  the  possible  and  the  becoming,  and  it  will  be 
manifested  by  "a  wise  suspense  in  forming  opin- 
ions, a  wise  reserve  in  expressing  them,  and  a  wise 
tardiness  in  trying  to  realize  them."  * 

Political  parties,  like  armies,  need  leaders,  and  The  leader 
leaders  develop  for  them.  Whether  the  leader  be 
competent,  patriotic,  and  responsible,  or  ignorant, 
selfish,  and  irresponsible,  depends  upon  circum- 
stances. In  the  latter  case,  he  is  that  now  familiar 
and  ominous  product  of  our  political  system,  the 
Boss,  of  which  public  opinion  cannot  too  soon 
take  proper  account.  Where  the  Boss  is  most 
powerful,  we  may  observe  in  practical  operation 
1Morley,  On  Compromise,  p.  94. 
[63] 


Education  a  system  of  government  which  is  unknown  to  our 
of  Public  laws,  and  which  under  the  fair  forms  of  democracy 
Opinion  ^&s  reverted  to  oligarchy  of  the  most  brutal  and 
grasping  type.  It  bullies  the  weak,  overawes  the 
timid,  bribes  the  ambitious,  and  buys  outright  the 
stubborn  opponent  who  shrewdly  takes  that  way 
of  making  himself  valuable  to  it.  A  Boss  never 
leads;  he  drives.  The  distinction  between  a 
political  leader  and  a  political  Boss  is  perfectly 
clear.  The  leader  studies  only  the  public  good 
and  party  success  as  contributing  toward  it.  He 
draws  to  himself  the  strongest,  the  wisest,  and  the 
best  of  those  who  bear  his  party's  name.  He 
urges  forward  talent  and  capacity;  he  represses 
presuming  ignorance  and  self-seeking.  He  rests 
his  case  upon  his  capacity  to  persuade  and  to  con- 
vince the  people.  By  sheer  intellectual  strength 
and  vigor  of  will  he  attracts  men  to  him  and  to  his 
policies.  So  Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  so  Lincoln 
and  Douglas,  so  Gladstone.  The  political  Boss, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  below  the  horizon  from 
which  the  public  good  is  visible.  Party  success 
is  his  highest  aim,  and  party  success  is  interpreted 
in  terms  of  his  personal  supremacy.  He  sur- 
[64] 


rounds  himself  with  the  weak  and  obedient,  Education 
with  those  whose  conscience  is  held  safe  prisoner  °f  Public 
behind  the  bars  of  ambition  and  desire  for  gain.  Qjnnwn 
He  bases  his  hope  of  victory  upon  effective  political 
machinery,  upon  a  lavish  expenditure  of  money, 
and  upon  promises  of  preferment.  His  arguments 
are  alternately  exhortations  and  threats.  If  vic- 
torious, his  first  thought  is  the  aggrandizement  and 
enrichment  of  himself  and  his  family,  and,  if 
possible,  of  some  of  the  more  important  of  his 
followers.  If  defeated,  he  is  at  once  in  secret 
communication  with  his  triumphant  adversary  for 
such  share  of  the  spoils  as  will  serve  to  support 
him  and  his  until  the  next  contest  occurs.  More 
than  one  state  and  not  a  few  American  cities  can 
frame  a  particular  visage  in  this  outline.  What  is 
to  be  done  with  the  Boss  ? 

First,  try  to  understand  why  he  exists.  The 
Boss  is  the  joint  product  of  two  factors  —  the 
checks  and  balances  in  our  constitutional  system, 
and  the  modern  alliance  of  business  and  politics. 

A  written  constitution  is  a  device  to  fix  man's  Value  of 
political   judgment  and   to   protect  it  from  his 
political  passions.     Our  own   Constitution  may 
[65] 


Education  well  be  called  marvellous  in  view  of  what  the  cen- 
of  Public  tury  has  seen.  But  its  structure,  particularly  as 
Opinion  imitated  in  the  several  commonwealths,  while 
making  parties  necessary,  has  also  made  it  easy 
for  them  to  be  abused.  Mr.  Ford,  in  his  interest- 
ing book  on  the  Rise  and  Growth  of  American 
Politics,  has  laid  proper  emphasis  upon  this 
much-neglected  fact,  and  so  helps  us  to  see  clearly 
that  something  more  than  ordinary  human  per- 
versity is  at  work  in  producing  the  Boss.  "The 
influence  moulding  all  the  conceptions,  the  idea 
regulating  all  the  contrivances  of  those  ardent 
politicians  and  able  young  lawyers  [who  framed 
the  Constitution],  intent  upon  obtaining  some 
practical  result  to  their  labors,  was  the  Whig  doc- 
trine of  checks  and  balances  of  authority  through 
distribution  of  the  powers  of  government."  * 
Unrestrained  power  and  undivided  responsibility 
were,  therefore,  lodged  nowhere.  The  shadows  of 
decaying  absolutism  were  still  dark  and  fearful. 
So  it  happened  that  in  the  Constitution  central 
power  was  checked  by  power  in  the  common- 
wealths, the  executive  by  power  in  the  legislature. 
1  Ford,  Rise  and  Growth  of  American  Politics,  p.  51. 
[66] 


Without  some  unifying  force  this  machinery  Education 
would  work  with  difficulty,  if  at  all.  There  were  of  Public 
many  clashes  and  much  crimination  and  recrimi-  "Pmion 
nation  while  precedents  were  being  made  and 
policies  established.  Political  parties  grew  up 
to  provide,  outside  of  the  legal  framework  of 
government,  the  initiative,  the  control,  and  the 
responsibility  for  which  no  adequate  constitu- 
tional provision  was  made.  So  it  happens  that 
the  people  have  created  for  themselves  extra- 
constitutional  assemblies  and  conventions,  or- 
ganized according  to  party  rules  and  respecting 
party  beliefs,  in  which  are  framed  the  declara- 
tions of  policy  which  are  then  submitted  to  the 
voters  for  arbitrament.  In  this  respect  the  United 
States  is  in  advance  of  Great  Britain,  where 
party  policies  are  still  largely  framed,  as  was  once 
the  case  here,  by  legislative  representatives. 

No  mind  can  picture  the  chaos  which  would 
result  if  county  officers,  state  officers,  and  national 
officers,  acted  as  each  might  will,  without  harmony 
of  principle  or  unity  of  plan.  One  would  defy 
another,  executive  would  antagonize  legislature, 
and  legislature  executive:  the  wheels  of  govern- 
[67] 


Education  ment  would  either  stop  or  they  would  revolve 
of  Public  with  a  rapidity  which  would  enable  their  revolu- 
Opinion  tjon  to  ^e  recognized  as  such  in  the  historical 
sense.  What  force  or  power  acts  as  governor  on 
all  this  complicated  machinery,  regulates  its 
speed,  brings  about  harmony  of  its  parts,  and  so 
effectiveness  in  its  operation  ?  I  answer,  party 
organization.  As  extra-constitutional  as  the  Brit- 
ish cabinet,  it  is,  like  that  body,  the  power  which 
directs  and  controls  the  government.  That 
which  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  would  not 
permit  in  the  government  has  grown  up  outside 
of  it.  This  is  the  real  basis  for  the  peculiar  place 
occupied  by  the  American  political  parties,  and 
it  ought  never  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  estimating  the 
meaning,  the  abuses,  and  the  necessary  limitations 
of  party  action. 

But  these  powerful  party  organizations,  with 
their  abundant  opportunities  for  advancement  to 
power  and  to  fame,  have  attracted  the  ambition  of 
men  whose  aims  and  methods  are  not  worthy  ones. 
Such  men  are  the  raw  material  for  the  Boss,  be  it  in 
ward,  city,  county,  or  state.  To  manufacture  the 
finished  Boss  out  of  this  raw  material  requires 
[68] 


the  possession  of  something,  power  or  patronage,   Education 
which  may  be  sold.     Public  officers  were  the  first  of  Public 
valuable  counters  in  the  game,  public  privileges  Upinion 
are  the  second.     The  principle  of  civil  service  re- 
form must  be  so  pressed  forward  and  extended 
that  the  public  offices  shall  be  torn  from  the  grasp 
of  the  Boss  and  his  office-holding  oligarchy  and 
returned  to  the  people  to  be  allotted  to  worthy 
candidates,   of  whatever  political  creed,  on  the 
basis  of  merit  alone.     That  is  the  only  possible 
principle  of  civil  service  administration  which  is 
consistent  with  democracy. 

Of  recent  years  the  sale  of  public  privileges  has  Business  in 
proved  more  profitable  than  the  peddling  of  p 
offices.  This  is  due  to  the  close  alliance  between 
business  and  politics  which  has  grown  up  in  this 
country  since  the  Civil  War,  and  which  has  been 
helped  on  amazingly  by  the  necessity  of  securing 
legislative  sanction  and  administrative  protection 
for  the  thousand  and  one  large  enterprises  of  a 
semi-public  character  which  have  developed  all 
over  the  country,  but  particularly  in  and  about 
the  rapidly  growing  centres  of  population.  These 
enterprises  are  very  profitable;  they  begin  to 


Education  make  returns  at  once.  Men  of  affairs  are  eager 
of  Public  to  embark  upon  them ;  they  will  be  a  public 
Opinion  benefit.  What  more  stimulating  to  a  legislature 
than  the  hint  that  the  projectors  of  a  given  under- 
taking, for  which  a  public  franchise  is  asked,  are 
good  party  men,  and  what  return  more  natural  on 
their  part  than  a  handsome  contribution  for  cam- 
paign purposes  to  the  Boss  who  has  dropped  the 
hint  ?  These  are  "  business  methods  "  in  politics, 
and  they  are  far  more  dangerous  to  freedom  than 
the  more  overt  and  dramatic  forms  of  treason. 
The  one  question  which  should  never  be  heard  in 
pure  politics  is  the  same  question  which  should 
never  be  heard  in  a  university :  it  is  the  business 
man's  question  —  will  it  pay  ?  Ask,  is  it  right, 
is  it  just,  is  it  wise,  is  it  necessary ;  but  never  ask, 
will  it  pay  ? 

An  interesting  example  of  the  working  of  this 
business  principle  in  politics  may  be  found  in  the 
recent  political  history  of  the  city  of  New  York. 
The  scene  is  laid  in  New  York,  where  a  legislative 
committee  is  making  inquiry  concerning  some 
aspects  of  the  municipal  government.  In  the 
witness  chair  sits  Richard  Croker,  a  private  citizen 
[70] 


in  the  eye  of  the  law,  but  in  fact,  at  the  time,  the  Education 
unchallenged  monarch  of  a  community  of  three  °f  Public 
and  a  half  millions  of  people :  —  Opinion 

"Then  we  have  this,"  Mr.  Moss  [counsel  for 
the  investigating  committee]  suggested,  "  that  you 
participate  in  the  selection  of  judges  before  they 
are  elected,  and  then  participate  in  emolument 
that  comes  of  their  judicial  proceedings  ? " 

"Yes,  sir,"  Mr.  Croker  answered. 

"  And  it  goes  in  your  pocket  ?  " 

"Yes;  that  is  my  own  money,"  the  witness 
asserted. 

"  And  the  nomination  of  the  judges  by  Tammany 
Hall  in  this  city  is  almost  equivalent  to  an  elec- 
tion, is  it  not  ?  "  Mr.  Moss  asked. 

"Yes." 

"  So  that,  if  you  have  a  controlling  voice  in  the 
affairs  of  your  party  and  secure  the  nomination  of 
true  men,  you  may  be  sure  that  at  least  in  the  Real 
Estate  Exchange  and  in  the  firm  of  Meyer  & 
Croker  you  will,  as  a  true  Democrat,  get  some  of 
the  patronage  ?  " 

"We   expect   them   at   least   to   be   friendly," 
Mr.  Croker  answered,  deprecatingly. 
[71] 


Education         "And  get  a  part  of  the  patronage  ? " 

of  Public          "  Yes,  sir." 

Opinion  «  go  vou  are  workjng  f or  your  own  pocket  ?  " 

"All  the  time,  and  you,  too,"  the  Tammany 
leader  answered  in  a  firm  tone. 

"  Then  it  is  not  a  matter  of  wide  statesmanship, 
or  patriotism  altogether,  with  you,  but  it  is  wide 
statesmanship,  patriotism,  and  personal  gain 
mixed  up?"  Mr.  Moss  remarked. 

"It  is  'to  the  victor  belong  the  spoils,'  "  was  the 
only  reply  Mr.  Croker  could  make,  but  it  was 
brimful  of  meaning.1 

This  is  likely  long  to  remain  the  locus  classicus 
as  to  the  relation  between  modern  politics  and 
modern  business.  Its  principle  is  of  wide  ap- 
plication; its  extraordinary  features  are  its 
brutal  frankness,  its  na'ive  unconsciousness  of 
wrong-doing,  and  the  fact  that  the  offices  whose 
control  is  avowed  ought  to  be  the  most  sacred  in 
our  entire  government,  those  of  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  The  less  of  such  "business" 
we  have  in  politics,  the  longer  we  shall  have  any 
politics  to  engage  in. 

1  New  York  Tribune,  April  15,  1899. 
[72] 


In  a  brief  discussion  it  is  quite  impossible  to  Education 
follow  the  formation  of  public  opinion  through  its   °f  Public 
various  phases.     The  part  played  by  the  press,   Vpinwn 
by  the  pulpit,  and  by  the  platform,  each  needs  Individual 
study.     The  fact  that  men  frequently  act  not  as  responsibility 
individuals  but  as  groups,  in  taking  part  in  deter-  poiicy 
mining  the  policy  of  a  still  larger  group,  is  of  great 
significance  and  of  much  practical  importance. 
The  so-called  labor  vote,  the  Grand  Army  vote, 
the  Irish  vote,  and  other  groups  are  cajoled  and 
humored  because  of  this  fact.     Many  members 
of  such  a  group  have  already  abdicated  any  in- 
dependence they  may  have  possessed,  in  joining 
it,  and  are  thenceforward  counted  as  part  of  the 
faithful  following  of  a  group-leader  who  trades 
and  sells  or  stampedes  his  followers,  as  circum- 
stances may  determine.     The  effect  of  increasing 
toleration  is  also  very  marked.     It  aids  in  securing 
that  full  hearing  and  that  suspension  of  judg- 
ment which  always  make  for  wisdom  of  decision 
and  for  sanity  of  action. 

I  have  now  set  out  the  main  facts  to  which  I 
desired  to  direct  attention.      My  argument  has 
aimed  to  show  the  necessary  dependence  of  indi- 
[73] 


Education  vidual  well-being  upon  social  and  political  health, 
of  Public  the  responsibility  which  rests  upon  every  in- 
Opinion  dividual  to  promote  that  health,  and  the  factors, 
individual  and  party,  which  are  at  work  in  the 
process.  That  the  party  system  has  a  stable  foun- 
dation and  that  the  parties  have  just  claims  upon 
us,  I  hold  most  strongly.  That  the  system  is,  and 
perhaps  always  will  be,  liable  to  abuse,  is  self- 
evident.  That  the  Boss  must  be  displaced  for 
the  leader  at  all  hazards,  goes  without  saying.  To 
accomplish  this,  the  first  step  is  relentless  Boss 
punishment  at  the  polls.  The  second  step  is  to 
take  away  his  capital  by  establishing  a  reformed 
and  democratic  civil  service  and  by  putting  a  stop 
to  his  ability  to  dispose  of  public  privileges  for 
personal  or  for  party  gain.  The  third  step  is  to 
relegate  business  principles  to  business,  and  to 
confine  politics  to  ends  properly  political. 

All  this  again  comes  back  to  the  point  from 
which  we  started,  the  individual  citizen.  There 
is  no  trench  in  which  he  may  hide,  no  bomb- 
proof to  which  the  weapons  of  responsibility  will 
not  follow  him.  Are  you  politically  alert?  Are 
you  politically  honest?  If  not,  you  are  a  bad 
[74] 


citizen  and  a  corrupter,  however  innocent,  of  Education 
public  opinion.  If  you  are  politically  alert,  the  °f  Public 
standard  which  you  set  is  a  high  one,  worthy 
of  imitation  by  your  neighbor.  You  are  doing 
something  to  educate  public  opinion. 


[75] 


DEMOCRACY  AND  EDUCATION 


AN  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED   BEFORE   THE 

NATIONAL  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 

AT  BUFFALO,  NEW  YORK, 

JULY  7,  1896 


DEMOCRACY  AND  EDUCATION 

PHILOSOPHERS,  poets,  and  sometimes  men  of  Democracy 
science  are  fond  of  speculating   on    an  answer  and 
to  the  question,  Whither  are  we  tending?     But  Education 
more  personal  matters  and  more  immediate  in- 
terests detain  the  attention  of  the  vast  majority 
of   mankind.     The    mere    question    of   absolute 
physical  direction,  to  say  nothing  of  the  tendencies 
of  institutions   and   ideals,   lies  far  beyond   the 
range  of  vision  of  the  average  man.     The  pas- 
senger in  a  railway  train  moving  west  may  walk  Quova  s 
leisurely  eastward,  within  the  limits  of  the  train, 
and  feel  certain  of  his  direction  and  speed.     But 
the    train    travelling   westward,    forty   miles    an 
hour,  is  on  the  surface  of  a  planet  that  revolves 
on  its  axis  from  west  to  east  with  a  velocity  of  a 
thousand  miles  an  hour.     More  than  this,  the 
earth  is  also  plunging  forward  in  space,  in  its  orbit 
about  the  sun,  at  the  fearful  rate  of  more  than 
eleven  hundred  miles  per  minute ;  while  as  a  mem- 
[79] 


Democracy    her  of  the  solar  system  it  drifts  rapidly  with  its 
and  fellows  toward  a  distant  point  in  the  constellation 

Education  Hercules.  Perhaps  the  whole  sidereal  system, 
the  entire  cosmos  even,  has  yet  other  motions 
of  its  own.  How  hopeless,  then,  is  it  to  attempt 
to  trace  the  exact  path,  judged  by  an  absolute 
standard,  of  a  body  moving  on  the  earth's  sur- 
face !  The  very  conception  staggers  us,  and  our 
imaginations  fall  back  helpless. 

Nor  is  it  otherwise  with  the  directions  and 
tendencies  of  things  intellectual  and  institu- 
tional. The  Laudator  temporis  acti  is  convinced 
that  civilization  is  just  now  on  a  downward  grade. 
The  old  order  has  changed  and  given  place  to  a 
new;  and  the  new  order  seems  to  him  to  lack 
something  of  the  robustness,  the  idealism,  the 
valor,  of  the  old.  His  antagonist,  fresh  from 
contemplating  the  abstract  rights  of  man  as 
depicted  by  modern  political  philosophers,  sees 
hope  and  promise  only  in  the  future;  to  such  an 
observer  the  past  is  a  record  of  folly,  imperfection, 
and  crime.  The  sane  man  may  be  forgiven  if  at 
times  he  fails  to  listen  with  patience  to  either 
advocate.  He  loses  his  sanity,  however,  if  he 
[80] 


attempts  to  take  refuge  in  cynicism  and  pessimism.   Democracy 
While  we  may  not  hope  to  grasp  fully  the  signifi-  and 
cance  of  movements  of  which  we  ourselves  are  a  Education 
part,  we  can  nevertheless  study  them,  trace  their 
beginnings,    and   measure   their   present   effects. 
Such  an  attitude,  hopeful  yet  cautious,  leads  to 
the  only  point  of  view  which  is  at  once  scientific 
and  philosophical. 

However  difficult  it  may  be  to  estimate  present 
tendencies  with  any  precision  or  authority,  there 
is  a  widespread  instinctive  feeling  among  thought- 
ful men,  as  Mr.  Kidd  has  pointed  out  in  the  first 
pages  of  his  Social  Evolution,  that  a  definite 
stage  in  the  evolution  of  our  civilization  is  draw- 
ing to  a  close  and  that  we  are  face  to  face  with  a 
new  era.  The  history  of  the  nineteenth  century 
lends  color  to  the  suggestion  that  the  new  era  has 
already  begun.  The  evidence  for  this  is  drawn 
from  the  records  of  material  advance,  of  scientific 
progress,  and  of  political  development. 

The  material  advances  made  since  the  nine-  The  new  era 

teenth  century  opened  are  more  numerous  and 

more  striking  than  the  sum  total  of  those  that 

all  previous   history  records.     We  find   it  diffi- 

[81] 


Democracy    cult  even  to  imagine  the  world   of  our  grand- 
and  fathers,  and  almost  impossible  to  appreciate  or 

Education  understanci  it  Without  the  factory,  without  the 
manifold  products  and  applications  of  steam  and 
electricity,  without  even  the  newspaper  and  the 
sulphur  match,  the  details  of  our  daily  life  would 
be  strangely  different.  In  our  time  wholly  new 
mechanical  and  economic  forces  are  actively  at 
work,  and  have  already  changed  the  appearance 
of  the  earth's  surface.  What  another  hundred 
years  may  bring  forth  no  one  dares  to  predict. 

The  scientific  progress  of  the  century  is  no  less 
marvellous  and  no  less  revolutionary  in  its  effects 
than  the  material  advance.  The  nebular  hy- 
pothesis, once  the  speculative  dream  of  a  few 
mathematicians  and  philosophers,  is  now  a  scien- 
tific commonplace.  The  geology  of  Lyell,  the 
astronomy  of  Herschel,  the  biology  of  von  Baer, 
of  Darwin,  and  of  Huxley,  the  physiology  of 
Miiller,  the  physics  of  Helmholtz  and  of  Roentgen, 
are  already  part  of  the  common  knowledge  of  all 
educated  men.  To  us  the  world  and  its  constitu- 
tion present  an  appearance  very  different  from 
that  which  was  familiar  to  our  ancestors. 
[82] 


But  most  striking  and  impressive  of  all  move-  Democracy 
ments  of  the  century  is  the  political  development 
toward  the  form  of  government  known  as  democ- 
racy.  Steadily  and  doggedly  throughout  the  ten 
decades  the  movement  toward  democracy  has 
gone  its  conquering  way.  When  the  century 
opened,  democracy  was  a  chimera.  It  had  been 
attempted  in  Greece  and  Rome  and  again  in  the 
Middle  Ages ;  and  the  reflecting  portion  of  man-  Spread  of 
kind  believed  it  to  be  a  failure.  Whatever  its 
possibilities  in  a  small  and  homogeneous  com- 
munity, it  was  felt  to  be  wholly  inapplicable  to 
large  states.  The  contention  that  government 
could  be  carried  on  by  what  Mill  called  collective 
mediocrity  rather  than  by  the  intelligent  few,  was 
felt  to  be  preposterous.  The  horrible  spectre  of 
the  French  Revolution  was  fresh  in  the  minds  of 
men.  The  United  States,  hardly  risen  from  their 
cradle,  were  regarded  by  the  statesmen  of  Europe 
with  a  curiosity,  partly  amused,  partly  disdainful. 
Germany  was  governed  by  an  absolute  monarch, 
the  grandnephew  of  the  great  Frederick  himself. 
In  England  a  constitutional  oligarchy,  with  Pitt 
at  its  head,  was  firmly  intrenched  in  power.  The 
[83] 


Democracy    Napoleonic  reaction  was  in  full  swing  in  France. 
and  How  different  the  spectacle  at  the  opening  of  the 

Education  twentieth  century!  In  Great  Britain  one  far- 
reaching  reform  after  another  has  left  standing 
only  the  shell  of  oligarchy ;  the  spirit  and  support 
of  British  civilization  are  democratic.  Despite 
the  influence  of  other  forces,  great  progress  is  be- 
ing made  toward  the  democratization  of  Germany. 
France,  after  a  period  of  unexampled  trouble  and 
unrest,  has  founded  a  successful  and,  we  are  glad 
to  believe,  a  stable  republic.  The  United  States 
have  disappointed  every  foe  and  falsified  the  pre- 
dictions of  every  hostile  critic.  The  governmental 
framework  constructed  by  the  fathers  for  less  than 
four  millions  of  people,  scattered  along  a  narrow 
strip  of  seaboard,  has  expanded  easily  to  meet  the 
needs  of  a  diverse  population  twenty  times  as 
large,  gathered  into  great  cities  and  distributed 
over  an  empire  of  seacoast,  mountain,  plain,  and 
forest.  It  has  withstood  the  shock  of  the  greatest 
civil  war  of  all  time,  fought  by  men  of  high  in- 
telligence and  determined  convictions.  It  has 
permitted  the  development  and  expansion  of  a 
civilization  in  which  there  is  equality  of  oppor- 
[84] 


tunity  for  all,  and  where  the  highest  civil  and  Democracy 

military  honors  have  been  thrust  upon  the  children  and 

of  the  plain  people  by  their  grateful  fellow-citizens.  Education 

So  significant  has  this  phenomenon  of  democ- 
racy become,  so  widespread  is  its  influence,  and 
so  dominating  are  its  ideals,  that  we  have  rightly 
begun  to  study  it  both  with  the  impartial  eye  of 
the  historian  and  by  the  analytic  method  of  the 
scientist.  The  literature  of  democracy  for  the 
past  half  century  is  extremely  important;  and 
Tocqueville,  Bagehot,  Scherer,  Carlyle,  Maine, 
Bryce,  and  Lecky  are  but  a  few  of  the  great  names 
that  have  contributed  to  it.  Through  all  the 
pages  of  these  writers  runs  an  expression  of  the 
conviction  that  the  stream  of  tendency  toward 
democracy  can  neither  be  turned  back  nor  per- 
manently checked.  Some  of  these  students  of 
democracy  are  its  enthusiastic  advocates,  others 
are  its  hostile  critics:  all  alike  seem  to  resign 
themselves  to  it. 

The  process  of  substituting  this  new  social  and 
political  system  for  an  older  one  has  not  been  un- 
interrupted or  untroubled,  nor  has  it  given  perfect 
satisfaction.     As  the  political  pendulum  has  con- 
[85] 


Democracy   tinued  to  swing  through  a  wide  but  diminishing 
and  arc,  the  cries  have  been  loud  and  constant  that 

Education  mjustice  and  favoritism  have  not  been  suppressed, 
that  all  are  not  equally  prosperous,  and  that  not 
even  democracy  is  a  cure  for  all  our  distress  and 
dissatisfaction.  Much  of  this  is  no  doubt  due 
to  the  tendency  in  all  stages  of  history,  spoken  of 
by  Burke,  to  ascribe  to  prevailing  forms  of  gov- 
ernment ills  that  in  reality  flow  from  the  con- 
stitution of  human  nature.  But  in  part  at  least 

—  in  how  great  part  perhaps  we  fail  to  recognize 

—  it  is  due  to  the  imperfect  and  halting  applica- 
tion of  our  democratic  ideals  and  the  very  partial 
acceptance    of    our    democratic    responsibilities. 
The  platitudes  of  democracy  are  readily  accepted 
by  the  crowd;   the  full  depth  of  its  principles  is 
far  from  being  generally  understood.     It  is  easy 

Equality  and  to  cry  "  Liberty,  Equality,  and  Fraternity,"  and 
to  carve  the  words  in  letters  of  stone  upon  public 
buildings  and  public  monuments.  It  is  not  so 
easy  to  answer  the  query  whether,  in  truth,  un- 
restricted liberty  and  perfect  equality  are  at  all 
compatible.  For  it  has  been  pointed  out  that 
liberty  leads  directly  to  inequality,  based  upon  the 
[86] 


liberty 


natural  differences  of  capacity  and  application  Democracy 
among  men.  Equality,  on  the  other  hand,  in  any  and 
economic  sense,  is  attainable  only  by  the  suppres- 
sion,  in  some  degree,  of  liberty,  in  order  that,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  the  strong  arm  of  the  state 
may  be  able  to  hold  back  the  precocious  and  to 
push  forward  the  sluggish.  Obviously  there  is 
food  for  thought  :n  this,  —  thought  that  may  serve 
to  check  the  rhetorical  exuberance  of  the  en- 
thusiast, and  lead  him  to  ask  whether  we  yet 
fully  grasp  what  democracy  means. 

Democracy  is,  as  I  have  said,  a  movement  so 
novel,  so  sweeping,  that  we  have  not  yet  had  time 
to  compare  it  closely,  in  all  its  phases,  with  mon- 
archy and  oligarchy.  The  advantages  of  those 
forms  of  political  organization  were  manifest 
when  society  was  young  and  man's  institutional 
life  yet  undeveloped.  As  time  went  on,  the  weak- 
nesses of  such  forms  of  government  became  appar- 
ent. The  plunge  into  democracy  was  made,  and 
we  have  usually  gone  no  farther  than  to  contrast 
its  blessings  with  what  we  know  of  the  oppression 
and  iniquity  that  resulted  from  kingship  and 
oligarchy  in  the  early  modern  period.  We  must, 
[87] 


Democracy   however,  go  farther  than  this,  and  gain  a  truer 
and  and  deeper  insight  into  the  institutional  life  of 

Education     wnich  we  are  a  part. 

It  is  just  here  that  we  find  evidence  of  the  close 
relations  that  exist  between  democracy  and  edu- 
cation. So  long  as  the  direction  of  man's  institu- 
tional life  was  in  the  hands  of  one  or  the  few,  the 
need  for  a  wide  diffusion  of  political  intelligence 
was  not  strongly  felt.  The  divine  right  of  kings 
found  its  correlative  in  an  almost  diabolical 
ignorance  of  the  masses.  There  was  no  educa- 
tional ideal,  resting  upon  a  social  and  political 
necessity,  that  was  broad  enough  to  include  the 
whole  people.  But  the  rapid  widening  of  the 
basis  of  sovereignty  has  changed  all  that.  No 
deeper  conviction  pervades  the  people  of  the 
United  States  and  of  France,  who  are  the  most 
aggressive  exponents  of  democracy,  than  that  the 
preservation  of  liberty  under  the  law,  and  of  the 
institutions  that  are  our  precious  possession  and 
proud  heritage,  depends  upon  the  intelligence  of 
the  whole  people.  It  is  on  this  unshakable  foun- 
dation that  the  argument  for  public  education 
at  public  expense  really  rests. 
[88] 


It  was  not  by  accident  that  the  Greek  philoso-  Democracy 
phers   made   their   contributions   to   educational  an(L 
theory  in  treatises  on  the  nature  and  functions  Education 
of  the   state.     Both  Plato  and  Aristotle  had  a 
deep  insight  into  the  meaning  of  man's  social  and 

institutional   life.     To   live   together   with   one's  Education 

p  11  -i.     •        i          nx  .     v          and  politics 

fellows  in  a  community  involves  fitness  so  to  live. 

This  fitness,  in  turn,  implies  discipline,  instruc- 
tion, training;  that  is,  education.  The  highest 
type  of  individual  life  is  found  in  community 
life.  Ethics  passes  into  or  includes  politics,  and 
the  education  of  the  individual  is  education  for 
the  state.  The  educated  Greek  at  the  height  of 
his  country's  development  was  taught  to  regard 
participation  in  the  public  service  alike  as  a  duty 
and  a  privilege.  The  well-being  of  the  community 
was  constantly  before  him  as  an  ideal  of  personal 
conduct.  To  depart  from  that  point  of  view  is 
to  entail  the  gravest  consequences.  That  a  large 
proportion  of  our  people,  and  among  their  num- 
ber some  of  the  most  highly  trained,  have  departed 
from  it,  needs  no  proof. 

Failure  to  understand  the  political  life  of  a 
democratic  state  and  failure  to  participate  fully 
[89] 


Democracy    in  it,  lead  directly  to  false  views  of  the  state  and 
and  its   relations  to  the  individual   citizen.     Instead 

Education  of  being  regar(jed  as  the  sum  total  of  the  citizens 
who  compose  it,  the  state  is,  in  thought  at  least, 
then  regarded  as  an  artificial  creation,  the  play- 
thing of  so-called  politicians  and  wire-pullers. 
This  view,  that  the  individual  and  the  state  are 
somehow  independent  each  of  the  other,  is  not 
without  support  in  modern  political  philosophy, 
but  it  is  a  crude  and  superficial  view.  It  gives 
rise  to  those  fallacies  that  regard  the  state  either 
as  a  tyrant  to  be  resisted  or  as  a  benefactor  to  be 
courted.  No  democracy  can  endure  permanently 
on  either  basis.  The  state  is  the  completion  of 
the  life  of  the  individual,  and  without  it  he  would 
not  wholly  live.  To  inculcate  that  doctrine  should 
be  an  aim  of  all  education  in  a  democracy.  To 
live  up  to  it  should  be  the  ideal  of  the  nation's 
educated  men. 

Impossible  in  theory  as  the  separation  of  the 
state  from  the  individuals  who  compose  it  seems, 
yet  in  practice  it  is  found  to  exist.  This  is  true 
in  the  United  States,  and  in  some  localities  more 
than  others.  Our  constitutional  system,  elabo- 
[90] 


The  individ- 
ual and  the 
state 


rately  adjusted  so  that  each  individual's  choice  may  Democracy 
count  in  the  ascertainment  of  the  common  will,  <md 
now  shelters  a  system  of  party  organization  and  Education 
of  political  practice,  undreamt  of  by  the  fathers,  * 
that,  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  effectually 
reduces  our  theoretical  democracy  to  an  oligarchy, 
and  that  oligarchy  by  no  means  an  aristocracy. 
With  here  and  there  an  exception,  the  educated 
men  of  the  country  hold  themselves  too  much 
aloof  —  or  are  held  aloof  —  from  participation 
in  what  is  called  practical  politics.  That  field  of 
activity  which  should  attract  the  highest  intelli- 
gence of  the  nation  too  often  repels  it.  When  a 
man  of  the  most  highly  trained  powers  engages  in 
political  life,  he  becomes  an  object  of  curiosity 
and  comment.  If  he  despises  the  petty  arts  and 
chicaneries  of  the  demagogue,  he  becomes  "un- 
popular," or  is  held  to  be  "unpractical."  After 
a  brief  interval  he  passes  off  the  public  stage  with- 
out even  a  perfunctory  recognition  of  his  services. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  framers  of  no  government, 
least  of  all  the  framers  of  our  own,  contemplated 
a  practical  outcome  such  as  this.  If  education 
and  training  unfit  men  for  political  life,  then  there 
[91] 


Democracy    is  something  wrong  either  with  our  political  life 

and  or  with  our  education. 

Education         rpjie  men  an(j  women  Of  America,  in  particular 

the  teachers,  should  address  themselves  to  this 
question  with  determination  and  zeal.  Instruc- 
tion in  civil  government  is  good;  the  inculcation 
of  patriotism  is  good ;  the  flag  upon  the  school- 
house  is  good.  But  all  these  devices  lie  upon  the 
surface.  The  real  question  involved  is  ethical. 
It  reaches  deep  down  to  the  very  foundations  of 
morality.  It  is  illuminated  by  history. 

The  public  education  of  a  great  democratic 
people  has  other  aims  to  fulfil  than  the  extension 
of  scientific  knowledge  or  the  development  of 
literary  culture.  It  must  prepare  for  intelligent 
citizenship.  More  than  a  century  ago  Burke 
wrote  that  "the  generality  of  people  are  fifty 
years,  at  least,  behindhand  in  their  politics.  There 
are  but  very  few  who  are  capable  of  comparing 
and  digesting  what  passes  before  their  eyes  at  differ- 
ent times  and  occasions,  so  as  to  form  the  whole 
into  a  distinct  system."  This  is  the  warning  of 
one  of  the  greatest  of  publicists,  that  a  thoroughly 
instructed  and  competent  public  opinion  on  po- 
[92] 


Education 
in  a 
democracy 


litical  matters  is  difficult  to  attain.  Yet,  unless  Democracy 
we  are  to  surrender  the  very  principle  on  which  an^ 
democracy  rests,  we  must  struggle  to  attain  it.  &(tucat'lon 
Something  may  be  accomplished  by  precept, 
something  by  direct  instruction,  much  by  example. 
The  words  "politics"  and  "politician"  must  be 
rescued  from  the  low  esteem  into  which  they  have 
fallen,  and  restored  to  their  ancient  and  honorable 
meaning.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  framers  of 
our  Constitution  never  foresaw  that  the  time 
would  come  when  thousands  of  intelligent  men 
and  women  would  regard  "politics"  as  beneath 
them,  and  when  a  cynical  unwillingness  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  choice  of  persons  and  policies 
would  develop  among  the  people.  Yet  such  is, 
of  course,  the  case. 

In  a  great  state  like  New  York,  for  example, 
a  governor  is  chosen  every  second  year.  The 
power  and  dignity  of  the  office  make  it  one  of  the 
greatest  in  the  land.  About  one  and  a  half  mil- 
lion qualified  voters  are  entitled  to  participate  in 
the  choice.  Theoretically  any  competent  person 
might  be  put  forward  for  the  office,  and  every  in- 
dividual's preference  would  be  recorded  and 
[93] 


Democracy    weighed.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  choice 
and  of  the  state  must  be  made  between  two  persons, 

Education  who  in  turn  win  be  selected  by,  perhaps,  ten  per 
cent  of  the  electorate,  at  the  suggestion  or  dictation 
of  not  more  than  a  dozen  men.  Had  such  a  system, 
or  anything  like  it,  been  proposed  at  the  time  the 
Constitution  was  adopted,  there  would  have  been 
instant  rebellion.  "Life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness"  would  not  have  seemed  worth 
having  under  such  conditions.  Yet,  now  that  it 
has  come  about,  there  is  no  very  great  dissatis- 
faction with  it.  The  system  could  be  broken  up 
in  a  twelvemonth  if  men  really  cared  to  break 
it  up.  It  exists,  therefore,  by  popular  consent, 
if  not  with  popular  approval.  Its  objective  results 
may  be  as  good  as  those  that  would  be  reached 
by  the  ideal  system;  but  its  effect  on  the  indi- 
vidual is  certainly  unfortunate.  It  induces  a  feel- 
ing of  irresponsibility  for  public  policy  and  a  lack 
of  interest  in  it  that  are  destructive  of  good  citi- 
zenship. The  good  citizen  is  not  the  querulous 
critic  of  public  men  and  public  affairs,  however 
intelligent  he  may  be;  he  is  rather  the  constant 
participator  in  political  struggles,  who  has  well- 
[94] 


The  good 
citizen 


grounded  convictions  and  a  strong  determination  Democracy 
to  influence,  by  all  honorable  means,  the  opinion   and 
of  the  community.     Were  it  otherwise,  universal  Educaiion 
suffrage  would  not  be  worth  having,  and  public 
education  would  be  a  luxury,  not  a  necessity. 

We  do  not  better  ourselves  or  serve  the  public 
interest  by  berating  those  who  do  interest  them- 
selves continually  in  politics,  when  their  aims  and 
their  methods  are  not  to  our  liking.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  patriotic  and  well-intentioned 
element  in  the  community  is  stronger  and  more 
numerous  than  the  self-seeking  and  evil-disposi- 
tioned.  It  has  the  remedy  in  its  own  hands,  and 
it  is  one  of  the  chief  duties  of  our  education  to 
enforce  this  truth. 

Much  of  the  disinclination  to  engage  in  active  Bad  effect 
political  life  that  is  noticeable  among  a  portion  of 
our  people  is  to  be  traced,  I  believe,  to  the  evil 
effects  upon  political  standards  and  methods  that 
flow  from  the  debasing  and  degrading  system  of 
treating  public  office  as  a  reward  for  partisan 
activity,  that  has  gained  so  strong  a  hold  in  the 
United  States.  The  spoils  system  is  absolutely 
undemocratic  and  utterly  unworthy  of  toleration 
[95] 


Democracy    by  an  intelligent  people.     Suppose  that  it  ruled 
and  the  schools,  as  it  rules  so  many  other  departments 

Education  of  public  administration :  then  we  should  expect 
to  see  the  election  of  a  mayor  in  Boston,  Chicago, 
New  Orleans,  or  San  Francisco,  followed  by  hun- 
dreds of  changes  among  the  public-school  teachers, 
made  solely  for  political  reasons.  How  long 
would  that  be  permitted  to  go  on  without  a  protest 
that  would  be  heard  and  heeded  from  Maine  to 
Texas?  Yet  why  should  we,  as  good  citizens, 
be  more  tolerant  of  such  abuses  in  other  depart- 
ments of  the  government  ? 

Patriotic  men  have  noted  with  gratification  the 
progress  that  is  making  toward  the  elimination  of 
this  evil.  A  determined  band  have  kept  the  issue 
before  the  public  for  nearly  a  generation,  and  now 
they  have  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  greater 
portion  of  the  national  service  wrested  from  the 
defiling  hand  of  the  spoils  hunter.  In  the  state 
of  New  York  the  people  themselves  put  into 
their  present  constitution  an  emphatic  declaration 
on  the  subject.  The  full  effect  of  this  declaration, 
splendidly  upheld  and  broadly  interpreted  by 
the  courts,  is  just  beginning  to  dawn  upon  the 
[96] 


foes  of  a  reformed  and  efficient  public  service.  Democracy 
From  this  advance  of  sound  sentiment  and  honest  and 
policy  we  may  take  every  encouragement.     But  Education 
much    remains    to   be    done.     Public    sentiment 
must  be  first  interested,  then  educated. 

Efficient  public  service  is  a  mark  of  civilization. 
To  turn  over  the  care  of  great  public  undertakings 
to  the  self-seeking  camp-followers  of  some  politi- 
cal potentate,  is  barbaric.  Teachers  are  the  first 
to  insist  that  incompetent  and  untrained  persons 
shall  not  be  allowed  in  the  service  of  the  schools. 
Why,  then,  should  they  tolerate  the  sight  of  a 
house-painter,  instead  of  an  engineer,  supervising 
the  streets  and  roadways  of  a  city  of  a  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  or  that  of  an  illiterate  hanger- 
on  of  a  party  boss  presiding  over  the  public  works 
of  a  great  metropolis  ?  These  instances,  drawn  at 
random  from  recent  political  history,  are  typical 
of  conditions  that  will  be  found  widely  diffused 
throughout  our  public  service.  Those  conditions 
exist  because  of  bad  citizenship,  low  ideals  of 
public  service,  and  wretchedly  inadequate  moral 
vision.  They  will  not  be  remedied  until  each  one 
of  us  assumes  his  share  of  the  task. 
[97] 


Democracy        It  is  instructive,  too,  to  note   that  the    spoils 
and  system    has    diverted    public    interest    in    great 

Education  measure  from  choice  between  policies  to  a  choice 
between  men.  Two  hundred  years  ago  men 
made  great  sacrifices  for  an  opportunity  to  share 
in  the  making  of  the  laws  by  which  they  were 
governed.  Yet  when  the  people  of  the  state  of 
New  York  were  called  upon  to  vote,  at  one  and 
the  same  election,  for  a  governor  and  for  or  against 
a  new  constitution,  containing  many  important 
and  some  novel  propositions,  more  than  a  million 
and  a  quarter  men  voted  for  a  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor, while  less  than  three-quarters  of  a  million  ex- 
pressed themselves  regarding  the  proposed  consti- 
tution. And  this  is  by  no  means  a  solitary  instance 
of  the  tendency  that  it  illustrates.  A  rational  and 
intelligent  democracy  will  first  discuss  questions  of 
principle  and  then  select  agents  to  carry  their  de- 
terminations into  effect.  To  fix  our  interest  solely 
on  individuals,  and  to  overlook  or  neglect  the 
principles  for  which  they  stand,  is  not  intelligent. 
Imperfections  It  is  a  serious  error,  too,  to  believe,  and  to  spread 
y  the  belief,  that  democracies  have  nothing  to  learn 
as  to  principles  of  government  and  nothing  to 
[98] 


improve.  From  the  time  of  Aristotle  the  dangers  Democracy 
that  are  inherent  in  democracy  have  been  known  and 
and  discussed.  But  in  our  time  men  are  often  Education 
too  blinded  by  the  brilliancy  of  the  manifest  suc- 
cesses and  advantages  of  this  form  of  government 
to  be  able  or  willing  to  consider  carefully  the 
other  side  of  the  picture.  How  long,  for  example, 
could  the  American  Congress  maintain  its  power 
and  prestige,  if  its  membership  was  split  up  into 
half  a  score  of  warring  groups,  as  in  France? 
How  long  will  the  American  Senate  continue  to 
call  forth  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  people, 
if  its  methods  of  transacting  public  business  and 
its  inability  to  close  its  own  debates  are  allowed  to 
continue?  How  long  would  life  in  our  great 
cities  be  endurable,  if  their  administration  be 
turned  over  permanently  to  the  ignorant  and 
the  rapacious  ?  What  more  distressing  division 
of  our  people  can  there  be  than  one  on  sectional 
lines,  such  as  took  place  in  1860  and  such  as  was 
attempted  again  in  1896  ?  Is  it  possible  to  believe 
that  our  native  optimism  is  all  that  is  needed  to 
extricate  us  from  these  dangers  —  dangers  not 
imaginary,  but  terribly  real  ? 
[99] 


Democracy       The  difficulties  of  democracy  are  the  oppor- 
and  tunities  of  education.     If  our  education  be  sound, 

Education  if  it  jay  due  emphasis  on  individual  responsibility 
for  social  and  political  progress,  if  it  counteract 
the  anarchistic  tendencies  that  grow  out  of  self- 
ishness and  greed,  if  it  promote  a  patriotism  that 
reaches  farther  than  militant  jingoism  and  battle- 
ships, then  we  may  cease  to  have  any  doubts 
as  to  the  perpetuity  and  integrity  of  our  insti- 
tutions. 

I  am  profoundly  convinced  that  the  greatest 
educational  need  of  our  time,  in  higher  and  lower 
schools  alike,  is  a  fuller  appreciation  on  the  part 
of  the  teachers  of  what  human  institutions  really 
mean  and  what  tremendous  moral  issues  and 
principles  they  involve.  The  ethics  of  individual 
life  must  be  traced  to  its  roots  in  the  ethics  of  the 
social  whole.  The  family,  property,  the  common 
law,  the  state,  and  the  church,  are  all  involved. 
These,  and  their  products,  taken  together,  con- 
stitute civilization  and  mark  it  off  from  barbarism. 
Inheritor  of  a  glorious  past,  each  generation  is  a 
trustee  for  posterity.  To  preserve,  protect,  and 
transmit  its  inheritance  unimpaired,  is  its  highest 
[100] 


duty.     To  accomplish  this  is  not  the  task  of  the  Democracy 
few,  but  the  duty  of  all.  an^ 

That  democracy  alone  will  be  triumphant  Education 
which  has  both  intelligence  and  character.  To 
develop  them  among  the  whole  people  is  the  task 
of  education  in  a  democracy.  Not  by  vainglorious 
boasting,  not  by  self-satisfied  indifference,  not 
by  selfish  and  indolent  withdrawal  from  partici-  democrat 
pation  in  the  interests  and  government  of  the  com- 
munity, but  rather  by  the  enthusiasm,  born  of 
intense  conviction,  that  finds  the  happiness  of 
each  in  the  good  of  all,  will  our  educational  ideals 
be  satisfied  and  our  free  government  be  placed 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  forces  of  dissolution  and 
decay. 


[101] 


INDEX 


Achievement,  Recognition  of, 
57-58. 

Acton,  Lord,  on  the  theory  of 
equality  of  the  French  Rev- 
olution, 7-9. 

Administration,  efficient,  by 
single  responsible  agents, 
A  false  view  of,  36;  fun- 
damental distinction  be- 
tween government  and,  36— 
37. 

Advances,  Material,  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  81-82. 

Americans  schooled  in  de- 
mocracy, 5. 

Aristocracy  of  intellect  and 
service,  Need  of  an,  14; 
Lincoln  an  immortal  ex- 
ample of,  19. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  Rebuke  of 
Professor  Clifford  by,  28; 
doctrine  of  the  remnant,  56. 

Association,  the  essence  of 
democracy,  37. 

Athenian  citizen,  Pericles  on 
the,  43. 

Bagehot  on  unconscious  imi- 
tation, 51. 

Beliefs  and  actions,  Our, 
guided  by  feeling  and  imi- 
tation, 53-55. 

Boss,  The,  63-65 ;  party  suc- 
cess in  terms  of  personal 
supremacy,  the  aim  of,  64 ; 
why  he  exists,  65 ;  raw 
material  for  and  manufac- 


ture of,  68-69;  civil  ser- 
vice reform  must  over- 
throw, 69;  must  be  dis- 
placed, 74. 

British  civilization,  The  spirit 
and  support  of,  democratic, 
84. 

Burke,  Edmund,  on  the  duty 
of  a  representative,  17-18; 
on  what  Parliament  is,  18; 
on  public  opinion  in  poli- 
tics, 92. 

Business  in  politics,  69-72; 
Richard  Croker  on,  71-72; 
must  be  eliminated,  74. 

Byron,  Lord,  on  democracy,  6. 

Character  and  intelligence, 
The  upbuilding  of,  provided 
for,  4. 

Character,  national,  The  mak- 
ing of,  51-52. 

Checks  and  balances  of  au- 
thority in  government,  65- 
66. 

Citizen,  The  bad,  49-50;  the 
good,  94-95. 

Citizenship,  bad,  Conditions 
arising  from,  and  our  in- 
dividual responsibility  to- 
ward, 97. 

Civilization  the  result  of 
wealth  and  leisure,  27; 
a  new  era  in  the  evolution 
of,  81-82. 

Class  distinctions,  Passing  of, 
48. 


Index 


[105] 


Index  Clemenceau,  M.,  on  individu- 
alist democracy  and  liberty, 
6-7. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  as  execu- 
tive, 33. 

Community-given  monopoly 
results  in  exploitation,  22. 

Compromise,  The  true  spirit 
of,  63. 

Congress,  and  state  legisla- 
tures —  their  one  proper 
concern,  18 ;  invading  the 
province  of  the  executive 
and  the  judiciary,  30-33. 

Constitution,  Checks  and  bal- 
ances provided  in  the,  65-67. 

Croker,  Richard,  on  business 
in  politics,  71-72. 

Cross-voting,  Dangers  of,  62. 

Demagogues,  False  democ- 
racy exalts,  and  decries 
leaders,  17;  as  mischief- 
makers,  25. 

Democracies,  Most  early,  were 
oligarchies,  46. 

Democracy  and  education, 
79-101. 

Democracy,  True  and  false, 
3-39;  is  it  understood?  5; 
what  is  democracy?  6; 
definitions  of  Byron  and 
Mazzini,  6 ;  debate  on, 
between  Juarfes  and  Cle- 
menceau, 6-7 ;  socialistic 
and  individualist,  7;  clew 
to  distinction  between  true 
and  false,  10;  true,  will 
elevate  wisest  to  leadership, 
13 ;  will  provide  education 
and  opportunity,  14 ;  char- 
acteristics of  a  false,  15; 
true,  believes  nothing  set- 
tled till  settled  right,  16; 


creates  leadership  and  fol- 
lows it,  16-17;  Is  democ- 
racy a  faction?  19-20;  to 
secure  justice  without  sac- 
rificing liberty,  the  purpose 
of  true,  20 ;  to  prevent 
exploitation,  21,  23;  to 
strengthen  and  protect  the 
executive,  35-36;  evils  of 
false,  37-38 ;  ideals  of  true, 
38-39 ;  place  of  public  opin- 
ion in  a,  44-45;  modern 
theoretical  often  oligarchi- 
cal, 46;  the  iliie  in  a,  56; 
natural  inequality  the  cor- 
ner-stone of,  57 ;  spread  of, 
83;  in  Great  Britain,  Ger- 
many, and  France,  and  the 
United  States,  84-85;  the 
literature  of,  important,  85 ; 
platitudes  of,  accepted,  prin- 
ciples of,  not  understood, 
86;  relations  of,  with  edu- 
cation, 88;  the  state  and 
the  individual  in  a,  90-91 ; 
education  in  a,  92-93  ;  im- 
perfections and  difficulties 
of,  98-99;  the  opportuni- 
ties of  education,  100;  tri- 
umphant democracy,  101. 

Democrats,  theoretical,  Ameri- 
can and  French,  46—47. 

Direction,  Question  of  abso- 
lute physical,  hopelessly  in- 
determinate, 79-80. 

Douglas,  64. 

Economic  and  industrial  life, 

Changes  in,  20. 
Economic  and  social  questions 

more  pressing  than  political, 


Educated  men  hold  aloof  from 
practical  politics,  91. 


[106] 


Education  and  moral  regenera- 
tion, The  hope  for  human 
nature  lies  in,  19-20,  22. 

Education  and  opportunity, 
True  democracy  will  pro- 
vide, 14. 

Education,  Democracy  and, 
79-101  ;  close  relations  be- 
tween, 88. 

Education,  Formal,  the  shap- 
ing of  the  individual  by 
the  community,  54-55. 

Education  of  public  opinion, 
43-75. 

Education,  public,  at  public 
expense,  Foundation  of  the 
argument  for,  88;  educa- 
tion and  politics,  89  ;  must 
prepare  for  intelligent  citi- 
zenship, 92;  and  enforce, 
95;  the  difficulties  of  de- 
mocracy the  opportunities 
of,  100;  the  task  of,  in  a 
,  democracy,  101. 

Elite,  The,  in  a  democracy, 
56. 

Equality,  economic,  and  lib- 
erty, Everlasting  contra- 
diction between,  7,  9-10,  57, 
87;  Lord  Acton  on,  7-8; 
Marat's  theory  of,  8-9;  a 
false  and  spurious,  11  ;  of 
rights  and  of  opportunity, 
58,  84. 

Equality,  Nature  knows  no 
such  thing  as,  56-57. 

Equality,  Political,  incident 
to  liberty,  9;  and  essential 
to  it,  10. 

Equality  the  shibboleth  of 
socialistic  democracy,  7. 

Era,  The  new,   81-82. 

Estates,   The,   of  the   Middle 


Ages,  48. 


Evolution,  Social  and  political,    Index 

47-48. 
Executive    branch    the    most 

efficient     representative    of 

the   popular   will,    33,    34- 

35;     true    democracy     will 

strengthen  the,  35-36. 
Exploitation  of  man  by  man, 

20-21 ;  of  one  by  all,  21-22 ; 

how  to  be  prevented,  23. 

Faculty,  The  directing,  26. 

Feelings  and  imitation,  Part 
played  by,  in  guiding  our 
beliefs  and  actions,  52-55. 

Ford,  H.  J.,  on  checks  and 
balances  of  authority  in 
government,  66. 

Fraternity,  7,  39,  86. 

Freedom  of  speech  and  of 
opinion,  47. 

Free  state,  A,  and  its  founda- 
tions, 38;  political  integ- 
rity of,  44. 

French  Revolution,  Lord  Ac- 
ton on  the  theory  of  equal- 
ity of  the,  7-9;  Taine  on 
the  mob  element  in  the,  24- 
25;  the  spectre  of  the,  83. 

Gladstone,  64. 

Governmental  agents  and  in- 
dividual initiative,  20. 

Government  and  administra- 
tion, Compromise  of,  36—37. 

Government,  Effectiveness  in 
operation  of,  secured 
through  party  organiza- 
tion, 67-68. 

Greek,  The  educated,  89. 

Group  action  in  politics,  73. 

Hamilton,  64. 

Happiness  and  prosperity  not 
universal,  19. 


[107] 


Human  nature,  Slow  progress 
of,  toward  highest  ethical 
standards,  19. 

Hume,  55. 

Idols  of  the  market-place, 
Worship  of  the,  3. 

Imitations,  unconscious, 

Parts  played  by,  51-55. 

Independent,  The  political, 
61. 

Independent  vote,  Value  of 
an,  62. 

Individual  initiative  under 
state  regulation,  24. 

Individual,  Value  of  the,  14 ; 
relation  between  the  com- 
munity and  the,  22 ;  com- 
plex relationships  of  the, 
48-49 ;  responsibility  of, 
for  political  party,  73-74; 
the  individual  and  the  mass, 
50-51 ;  dependent  on  ex- 
ternal influences,  52;  feel- 
ing and  imitation,  53-54; 
relation  of  the,  to  public 
opinion,  58-59 ;  to  political 
parties,  59-60;  and  the 
state,  90-91. 

Jefferson  contemplated  de- 
mocracy and  slavery  side 
by  side,  46 ;  as  a  leader,  64. 

Juares,  M.,  on  socialistic 
democracy  and  equality, 
6-7. 

Judiciary,  Congress  has  no 
power  to  restrict  the,  30-31. 

Justice  demands  inequality, 
15;  not  yet  established 
between  man  and  man,  19. 

Kidd>  Benjamin,  on  the  dawn 
of  a  new  era,  81. 


Kings,  Divine  right  of,  and 
ignorance  of  the  masses,  88. 

Labor,  Confusion  in  use  of 
term,  25-26. 

Law  and  authority,  Decline 
in  reverence  and  respect  for, 
37-38. 

Leadership,  Genuine,  possible 
in  a  democratic  state,  18. 

Leader,  The  political,  and  the 
Boss,  63-65;  examples  of 
true  leaders,  64. 

Le  Bon,  quoted,  56. 

Legislative  branch  of  govern- 
ment inferior  to  executive 
and  judicial  in  representing 
the  will  of  the  people,  29-30 ; 
invasion  of  their  provinces 
by  the,  31-33 ;  influence  of 
private  interests  with  the, 
35. 

Liberty  and  economic  equal- 
ity, Everlasting  contradic- 
tion between,  7,  9-10,  57, 
87. 

Liberty  and  property  are 
social  creations,  49. 

Liberty  the  watchword  of 
individualist  democracy,  7; 
has  liberty  lost  its  charm? 
10-11 ;  far  more  precious 
than  equality,  57 ;  leads  to 
inequality,  86. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  an  immor- 
tal example  of  leadership 
and  aristocracy  of  service, 
19 ;  as  executive  in  the 
Civil  War,  33 ;  as  a  leader, 
64. 

Lowell  the  poet  of  true  democ- 
racy, 16. 

Lust  for  gain,  Only  cure  for, 
27-28. 


[108] 


Madison,  James,  on  dangers 
of  legislative  encroachment, 
32-33. 

Manual  labor  a  subordinate 
element  in  production,  26. 

Marat's  theory  of  equality,  8-9. 

Maudsley  on  how  little  reason- 
ing men  do,  53. 

Mazzini's  definition  of  democ- 
racy, 6,  13. 

Mill,  55. 

Milton's  definition  of  the  good 
citizen,  50. 

Mob,  The,  versus  the  people, 
24-26;  surest  antidote  to, 
29. 

Monopoly  or  privilege,  Com- 
munity-given, 22. 

Morley,  John,  quoted,  63. 

New  York,  How  a  governor 
is  nominated  in,  93-94. 

Nineteenth  century,  Material 
progress  in  the,  81—82 ; 
scientific,  82 ;  political  de- 
velopment of  democracy  in, 
83-85. 

Oligarchy,  Only  the  shell  of, 
left  in  Great  Britain,  84. 

Parliament,  Edmund  Burke 
on  what  it  is,  18. 

Parties,  political,  Origin  of, 
59;  relation  of  citizen  to, 
60;  effect  on,  of  an  inde- 
pendent vote,  62;  need 
leaders,  63;  value  of  party 
organizations,  65-69 ;  easily 
abused,  66;  define  party 
policies,  67 ;  extra-consti- 
tutional power  of,  68;  the 
Boss  in,  68-69;  business 
methods  in,  69-70;  indi- 


vidual    responsibility     for,    Index 
73;     the    good    citizen    in, 
94-95. 

Party  system,  The,  59-60; 
independence  of,  61 ;  re- 
duces theoretical  democ- 
racy to  an  oligarchy,  91. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  on  public 
opinion,  45. 

People's  policies,  The,  and 
their  executive  agent,  37. 

Pericles  on  the  Athenian 
citizen,  43. 

Political  action  the  result  of 
two  forces,  44. 

Political  agencies,  Our  three, 
29. 

Political  agents,  extension  of 
collective  work  through,  4. 

Political  and  economic  exploi- 
tation, 20-22;  how  to  be 
prevented,  23. 

Political  conditions  at  begin- 
ning of  twentieth  century, 
46-47. 

Political  thought  and  action, 
New  order  of,  4.1* 

Politics,  The  possible  and  the 
becoming  in,  62-63;  the 
one  question  never  to  be 
asked  in,  70;  held  in  low 
esteem,  93 ;  the  good  citizen 
in,  94-95. 

Popular  government  possible 
only  through  political  par- 
ties, 59. 

President,  The,  and  Supreme 
Court  express  the  highest 
will  of  the  whole  people, 
30,  33,  34 ;  Congress  invad- 
ing the  province  of,  30-31  ; 
responsible  only  to  the  peo- 
ple, 34 ;  true  democracy  will 
protect,  35-36. 


[109] 


Index  Private  interest  works;  in 
committee-rooms  of  legis- 
latures, 35. 

Problems  of  to-day  chiefly 
economic  and  social,  3. 

Property,  Liberty  and,  social 
creations,  49. 

Property,  private,  Concept  of, 
well-known,  23. 

Property,  public,  Definition  of, 
needed,  23. 

Public  offices  must  be  taken 
from  control  of  the  Boss,  69. 

Public  opinion,  Effective  ex- 
pression of,  29 ;  its  place  in 
a  democracy,  44 ;  force  of, 
45 ;  Sir  Robert  Peel  on,  45  ; 
a  new  creation,  45—46 ;  dif- 
ficulty of  directing,  46; 
relation  of  the  individual  to, 
50,  58-59;  genesis  of,  52; 
how  formed  and  changed, 
54 ;  uneven  progress  of,  55  ; 
influence  of  the  party  sys- 
tem on,  59;  formation  of, 
73-75. 

Public  policy,  Irresponsibil- 
ity of  the  individual  for,  94. 

Public  privileges,  Sale  of,  69 ; 
must  be  stopped,  74. 

Public  service,  Efficient,  the 
mark  of  civilization,  97. 

Questions,  Economic  and  so- 
cial, more  pressing  than 
political,  3. 

Quo  vadis?  79-81. 

Radicalism,  The  healthy,  of  a 
true  democracy,  39. 

Reason,  conscious,  Propor- 
tion of,  in  the  individual,  55 

Reasoning,  How  little,  men  do, 
53. 


Reforms,  how  set  in  motion 
55-56. 

Representative,  The  real,  17- 
18. 

Reverence  and  respect  for  law 
and  authority,  Decline  of, 
37-38. 

Rome,  What  is  the  lesson  of, 
for  America?  13. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  as  execu- 
tive, 34. 

Sainte-Beuve's  two  classes  of 
authors,  27. 

Salisbury,  Lord,  on  socialism, 
5. 

Scientific  progress  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  82. 

Senate,  The  American,  and  its 
business  methods,  99. 

Ship-money,  John  Hampden's, 
50. 

Socialism,  Lord  Salisbury  on, 
5 ;  its  aim,  12-13. 

Socialist  propaganda,  The, 
11-14;  aims  of,  12;  unprac- 
tical programme  of,  24. 

Socialistic  democracy,  Evil 
results  of,  21,  22. 

Society,  Who  shall  order? 
49. 

Spoils  system,  Bad  effects  of 
the,  95-96 ;  progress  toward 
elimination  of  the,  96-97; 
diverts  attention  from  prin- 
ciples to  men,  98. 

State,  The,  and  the  individual 
citizen,  90. 

"State,  The,  we  are  it,"  49. 

Statesmen  and  leaders,  Two 
classes  of,  27. 


Taine  on  characteristics  of  the 
mob,  24-25. 


[110] 


Teachers,    Responsibility    of, 

as  citizens,  97,  100. 
Tendencies  of  institutions  and 

ideas,  79-81. 
Thinking,  Genuine,  plays  little 

part  in  our  life,  52-53. 

Usurpation,  Legislative,  31. 


Wealth  of  the  United  States,    Index 
If  all  the,  were  equally  di- 
vided, 57. 

Wealth,  The  problem  of,  27- 
28. 

Welfare,    Human,    the    main 
object  of  government,  4. 


[Ill] 


A     000028765     6 


